After being delayed for two months, the Uni Shop has finally returned to the Atrium, when it officially opened on Wednesday, March 10th. The shop saw another brief delay at the opening time, as the tills took approximately 20 minutes to be set up.
The shop, which offers a large selection of sandwiches, newspapers and pick-and-mix sweets, is located in the Main Admin Building — where the Enterprise@Lincoln services used to be. The Uni Shop also sells tobacco and is expected to take card payments in the coming weeks.
Ruth Butler, the shop manager, said about the shop opening: “It’s fantastic. It’s a good move forward for the university, accessible to all students and staff.” Commenting on the delays and the controversy surrounding the Uni Shop she said: “It’s unfortunate, and was due to unforeseen circumstances, but it is here now, which is the main thing.”
Phil Krstic, the new RAG officer elect, was the first customer to use the Uni Shop, opting for a strawberry flavoured Nutrigrain bar. He said: “I saw Chris Charnley opening the shop. Saw how fresh and beautiful everything was. I look forward to new stuff.”
Chris Charnley, who opened the shop, said: “Better late than never. Opening 20 minutes late is awfully fitting. It’s nice to see [the shop] back and there has been a massive turn around and it is for the university to build on it.”
Charnley has been critical in the past of the communication between the Students’ Union and the university, and told The Linc: “The university told me [the shop would open in] September, but you have to look at the fact that they told me it would be January.”
He then claimed that moving the shop, which was a significant part of his manifesto when originally campaigning to be elected SU president, is a decision he can’t make: “I have worked very hard on this. I have sat in a lot of meetings, I have gained student opinion but I can’t decide whether the shop comes. I have influenced it and sat on the project group to the furthest point. At the end of the day if the money isn’t there, it isn’t there.”
However, Charnley said on Wednesday: “I won’t dwell on the past.”
I can confirm that the first product bought in the shop (the aforementioned strawberry flavoured Nutrigrain bar) is being kept as a memory of this joyous occasion.
It’s also very good to see more and more products being sold in the shop as the weeks go by!