Hewitt Hall will become the new hub for the School of Communication, Media and the Arts once renovations are finalized by fall of 2023, but one question remains, what will happen to the businesses that were once housed in Hewitt?

Two of the campus businesses impacted by the project are the bookstore and Artville, the café formerly located in Hewitt, both owned by Susan Raby.

“We had not previously had any of our school supplies and art supplies available online, so we had to shift and make that happen pretty quickly,” Raby said.

Now, the various businesses Raby owns on campus have moved to different locations across various buildings. For instance, the bookstore is now scattered between the basement at Penfield Library and Lanigan Hall. 

One recent addition here is that of lockers that operate as vending machines where students enter their information in order to retrieve the items they purchased. But this feature will not be fully operational until the spring, Raby said.

One challenge associated with the store now being located in Penfield Library is that the elevators cannot withstand the weight in loading and unloading the products, Raby said.

“The bookstore not actually being a store is a challenge. There are still customers that like to have the personal assistance,” Raby said. “It takes longer to resolve problems because wherever they are picking up their books, it’s not where the books are.”

As a result, Artville Cafe now has a lesser offering due a reduced space availability.

“It’s less visible, so we’re seeing fewer people,” said Raby.

Aside from the designated space at Penfield Library and the Lanigan Hall basement, the college store has also begun to build a new space in the Lanigan Hall upper floor.

That space will house art and school supplies as well as some snacks. The new space does not have a proposed budget as of yet, according to Raby.

“That’s one of the things my employees have always really loved [is] the interaction with the students,” said Raby. “For the book people to be down in the basement and not have interaction, that’s been a disappointment.”

Raby said she is hopeful the new store could attract more patrons as it will be more visible to the campus community.

The new space in Lanigan will open its doors in the spring semester.  

But Raby said the quick turnaround for the renovations at Hewitt Hall was “a bit of a challenge.”

“We didn’t have final plans of where we were going and what kind of space we would have until really close to when we moved,” Raby said. “We’ve known for a long time that we would be leaving, but we didn’t know where, how, what size and things like that until much closer to the deadline. It was a challenge.”

Raby said they are still working their way through to find the best way to provide students with their services.

“It will be good to get it working well; [it will be] less stressful,” Raby said. “It’s been a stressful opening.”

Raby also said that while the new locations have not been a significant change, they have resulted in a slight reduction in staff.

“I think the challenge we’ve had this semester has been that things have changed so completely, and also they’ve changed with little notice,” Raby said. “It’s caused confusion, and it’s usually been pretty smooth.”