On-campus businesses Hair City and Jamba Juice will move to new locations on campus as AU seeks new businesses, such as a coffee shop, that cater to student needs, said Executive Director of Housing and Dining Julie Weber.
Hair City will get a new style over spring break, when it will move to the old STA Travel location in the tunnel. The new space is much bigger and will allow Hair City to expand its hair-styling space and have more space for retail. Hair City is also adding several tanning booths to its service, as well as manicure and pedicure services.
Jamba Juice may then move out of the Tavern and into Hair City's old location, according to Weber. However, relocating and remodeling plans for Jamba Juice are not completed but should be decided on soon, Weber said.
"We evaluate these operations constantly to make sure that they still meet the needs of the community, to make sure they are still financially feasible and to make sure that there is not something else that people want that we ought to consider putting in there," Weber said.
Taher Kahiel, owner and manager of Hair City, said he is very excited about moving to the new location.
"It's going to be really fun, and already is a fun experience," he said. "We are currently training more students to handle the front desk, we have two great nail artists and are adding several more hair stylists and state-of-the-art tanning booths from Holland."
Kahiel and his staff said they hope to start moving in by Wednesday. The grand opening of the new Hair City will "no doubt" take place when students return from spring break, Kahiel said.
After Hair City is settled in its new location, Kahiel plans to have a hair-styling and coloring workshop, featuring representatives from the cosmetics company L'Oreal, to raise money for charity. The specific charity and date of the workshop have not been decided.
"Hair City wanted to expand and add additional services," Weber said. "STA left because the walk-in travel agent business has taken a big dive since [online travel booking]. Our traffic did not support them staying there."
In the Tavern, nothing would replace Jamba Juice, allowing more space for programming, said Michael Elmore, senior director of the University Center.
"What nobody realized is that when they put Jamba Juice in, every time you turn on those blenders, you can't hear anything in the rest of the room," Elmore said. "Jamba is successful wherever you put it. We don't want to lose it, but the tunnel seems a logical place for it."
Some students support the move.
"I'm glad that Jamba is moving into the tunnel because I think that it will be more accessible to students," said Sarah Bilodeau, a sophomore in the School of Communication. "But I think that a new vendor should replace Jamba's spot in the Tavern."
The relocation plans are based on results from several focus group surveys and "intentional efforts to find out what the campus needs," Elmore said. AU surveyed students last year to find out what students thought the campus needed in terms of retailers. The most desired retailers were coffee shops, such as Starbucks, and convenience stores like CVS or Rite Aid, according to Elmore.
"The coffee concept rose to the top of the list as the most desired of the vendors to be here," Elmore said.
However, there are several factors that determine what type of service AU can have, including its agreement with Bon Appetit, which has an agreement with Pura Vida Coffee.
"We want a coffee concept. But we want social responsibility with their contract. That's what AU wants," Elmore said.
Pura Vida is a fair-trade company.
A "pure, dedicated coffee shop ... was clearly the thing that the community wanted most," Weber said. "We are considering options for a coffee venue on the first floor of Mary Graydon."
"I think that a coffee place would make for a lot more activity in the Tavern and that it'd probably be rather popular with the students," said Miguel Hermann, a junior in the School of International Service.
No contract has been made with any coffee vendor, though Weber said she expects a decision to be made before the end of the semester.
Although putting a CVS or Rite Aid on campus was considered, "[both vendors] told us there is no economic viability by putting one on campus," Elmore said.
"Between September and December there is a lot of business, and between the middle of January and April there is a lot of business, but what happens the rest of the year?" Elmore said. "By putting one on the campus, [the vendor] has to figure out how to make the bottom line work. ... We've never been able to get any of those franchises to take the bait and come here"
