The Cartersville and Floyd campuses will soon open a new merchandise store, “Charger Central,” replacing the bookstore that transitioned to operating completely online.
The stores will have a soft opening the week of Feb. 17, followed by a grand opening on March 3.
Campus coordinator for auxiliary services Kallan Kinsey, analyst in auxiliary business Anthony Snyder and their manager, Rebekah Wood, the Director of Student Financial Services, made the decision to open a new store.
“We’ve seen a lot of demand from people who want to come in and buy things like T-shirts and sweatshirts, as well as things you would need for class, like pens, pencils and notebooks,” Kinsey said. “It is a service that we would like to have back on campus.”
While browsing, students may notice yellow clearance tags with discounts on items from previous semesters. The spirit store will also introduce new items soon.
A big concern for the store is that students will not be able to get their books in person like they could in the past. “Eventually, If people want to pick up their books on campus, we will house them here to make that easier,” Kinsey said.
This new store will feature a self-checkout system instead of hiring student workers as cashiers. This method is similar to the micro-market of snack food located on the same two campuses. Students shared their thoughts on this new addition to the store.
Similar to the Charger Café and mini-marts, the store will feature a self-checkout kiosk for quick and easy purchases.
“It shows that they have a lot of trust in the students,” Andrew Bailey said.
“I’m a little disappointed because it gave work opportunities to students,” Cole Fowler said. “I was going to apply there, but I can’t do that anymore.”
“I’m going to miss having the student workers there,” Mia Jones said. “They were always really friendly, and it was nice to have human interaction.”
Charger Central will offer many benefits to students, including a furnished lounge area with board games for entertainment. The Floyd campus store will also feature a coffee shop similar to the Steam Cafe at Cartersville.
Because Charger Central is replacing the bookstore, there are still shirts and other merchandise leftover. Kinsey said the old merchandise will be on sale, with some T-shirts priced as low as $8 to make room for new items.
Students who do not have easy access to the Floyd and Cartersville campuses can still purchase items sold at these stores.
The new merchandise will eventually be available online. Once the store is open, students can visit http://GHC.textbooktech.com to buy any of Charger Central’s GHC merchandise.
