What was previously a space occupied only by printers and vending machines has now been replaced by an addition that includes health products, beauty products, frozen foods, fresh fruit and much more.
“Stags on the Run,” the latest addition to the Stag Spirit Shop, seems to be attracting both positive and negative attention from Fairfield students.
The goal of the University was to work on constructing an addition to the bookstore, which would allow for students to purchase items that they needed to comfortably live at the University without leaving campus itself.
This added bonus means that students could spend more of their time engaging in on-campus activities and working on their studies. The extra time saved from the trips to the store is intended to make the student body active participants in campus life.
According to Assistant Vice President of Student Affairs Jim FitzPatrick ‘70, the prices are specifically kept comparable to local stores, and weekly and monthly specials have even made the Stags on the Run addition a competitive market in local Fairfield. With its counterparts at CVS and Stop and Shop, the new addition certainly adds a more convenient aspect in its marketplace.
This change did not occur overnight, however. Originally slated for construction over the summer of 2014, the addition was postponed for further planning. This unexpected delay turned out to benefit the overall project, according to FitzPatrick. It provided more time for a thorough planning stage and made the overall construction a much smoother process.
With construction completed at the beginning of this academic semester, the success of the store has been noted. Ben Ryan, an employee for the bookstore, notes that he has noticed a large amount of students purchasing items from the new addition. “It seems to be that it becomes most busy after classes are over, and some people just come in and grab a snack and leave. I guess it is faster than going to the dining hall,” he said. When asked if students seem to buy more food or health products from the new addition, Ryan noted it was a “pretty even split.”
Students expressed their opinions about the store in a variety of ways. Most believed that the store was extremely convenient, however some still prefer to go into town and get off campus for a little while.
“I think that the new addition to the store is very convenient because then you don’t have to go into town on the StagBus, which only runs on the hour, but I still prefer to go into town because then you can get all different things in one trip, and there is a larger variety,” said Madison Bietsch ‘19.
Sophomore Katie Goodfellow seems to agree, “[the addition] is OK. Last year they had everything I could ever need in a pinch anyway, now it is just all together in one area. I prefer to go downtown because I have a CVS card, so I get rewards and discounts that I don’t get on campus.”
Other students, however, feel that they have utilized Stags on the Run more than other shopping options, and they appreciate what they find to be an extremely convenient attachment.
“I think it’s really a good attachment. I used it when I was sick to get medicine,” said Kathleen Barter ’18. Freshman Alexandra Bogossian seemed to agree: “I think it is a great addition to the school because it has a lot of things that students need to get in a hurry for example, medicine. I prefer to go in there if it’s something fast because taking the StagBus is a struggle.”
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