In this photo, a shelf containing hair products and other dorm-related items is pictured in the UConn Co-op in Storrs, Connecticut. The Co-op had 20,276 customers during move-in weekend, Aug. 28 through Aug. 31. (Amar Batra/The Daily Campus)
Many students visited the Co-op to purchase forgotten items – including fans, textbooks and adhesive wall-hooks – in the first weeks of the school year, Co-op marketing manager Marcia Firsick said.
Other high selling items were TV cables, such as HDMI cables, Firsick said. The Co-op had 20,276 customers during move-in weekend, Aug. 28 through Aug. 31.
“We serve the students as best we can,” Firsick said.
Some freshmen forgot essential items for dorm living such as laundry baskets and detergent, like Genevieve Denault, a 1st-semester animal science major. Those who prepared for travel – like 1st-semester pre-pharmacy major Emily Grabowski – did not forget much, except for a fan, but were able to buy one at the Co-op.
“Fans are super popular,” Lauren Davis a cashier at the Co-op said, “[Freshmen] don’t realize how hot it can get in the dorms.”
Not only did freshmen forget some essential items, some upperclassmen forgot them as well.
“I forgot some Command hooks, a calendar and an agenda. So I went to the Co-op and bought them,” Irem Khan a 7th-semester communications and digital media and design major said.
Megan Rugar a Co-op cashier said she has seen students buy a lot of minor things at the Co-op.
“A lot of water bottles and headphones,” Rugar said. “Also, a lot of desk things, like agendas and calendars.”
Davis said that she has seen a lot of students looking for Command hooks and irons.
“College kids don’t have to think about what they bring sometimes,” said Davis. “That’s why they forget a lot of things when they move in.”
Firsick said customers of the Co-op do not have to worry about a product running out or not being able to get an item.
“If we didn’t have an item we can order more of it, and it will be in within a few days,” Firsick said. “We keep refilling, refilling and refilling. We do our best to serve the students.”
Annabelle Orlando is a campus correspondent for The Daily Campus. She can be reached via email at annabelle.orlando@uconn.edu.