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The Rice Thresher
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by Tommy Belanger Thresher staff
The bookstore's first floor is smaller due to the space allocated for the new convenience store and Subway. Kinko's has moved from Blair Lounge on the first level of the Student Center to the lower floor of the Student Center, near Willy's Pub. Kinko's occupies some of what was previously part of the Campus Store's basement. Student Center Director Boyd Beckwith said the Blair Lounge was originally intended to be a meeting place for students, but there was a possibility that it would have stayed Kinko's. "Because Kinko's needed a larger space to offer all of its services and because the campus bookstore was willing to provide the space, we were lucky enough to be able to return Blair Lounge to its original purpose," he said. Kinko's moved to Blair Lounge about a year ago as a temporary measure but stayed due to positive student reaction, Beckwith said. The copy shop's location in the basement is not as visible, but their operating space is much larger. Beckwith said that there's a shortage of meeting space on campus - about five to 10 student organizations every week are not able to meet when they want due to a lack of space, he said. In the bookstore, the smaller space has made already-long lines more cramped than usual. "I stood in a line from the register to the bottom of the stairs for forty minutes," Brown College sophomore Denise Marchand said. Hanszen College sophomore Anthony Covington said he thinks the problem of long lines is not unique to this year. "The lines are still long, though I was lucky enough to get in a short one," he said. "Everybody comes at 2 p.m. when we're very busy, so we're trying to train people to come earlier and later by extending our hours," Campus Store Manager Michelle Jones said. She said that lines are always a problem during the first week of school. As result, the bookstore has implemented new monitoring procedures to keep people from being "on top of each other." "We just want to do everything we can not to inconvenience students during this first week by extending our hours and monitoring lines," Jones said. Some students are also finding the smaller basement of the bookstore too snug for their tastes. "I think it's much more cramped downstairs," Marchand said. Despite the first-week crowds, Marchand still feels that the changes have been advantageous. "I like the convenience store and the Subway," she said. "I think it's worth it." Beckwith said the only complaint he has heard was about the relocation of the bookstore backpack cubbies, which are now in the convenience store.
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