The University Bookstore is upgrading its satellite location for Husker football game days.
After selling Big Red gear in a tent on the loop east of Memorial Stadium for years, the University of Nebraska–Lincoln bookstore will set up its satellite store in the old Nebraska Bookstore building at 13th and Q streets for the 2016 football season.
The building was purchased by the university in 2015 and will be the future home of the Johnny Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts. The University Bookstore, which is managed by Follett, will rent a portion of the building from the university while plans for the Carson Center are being developed.
“This is going to be a much better off-site location for our customers seeking merchandise on Husker game days,” said Jeni Fuchs, director of the University Bookstore. “We will have more space and be able to offer more merchandise than we could in the tent location. Along with adidas and other football gear, we will also offer Pepsi products and snacks, restrooms, fitting rooms and more cashiers.”
The game day store will be set up in the north end of the building. Fuchs said Husker gear offered will change with the season, starting with warm weather items then transitioning to cold weather offerings.
Store hours will be offered on both Fridays and Saturdays during home football weekends, starting Sept. 2. Friday hours will be noon to 5 p.m., while Saturday hours will vary with kickoff times.
Fuchs said the Saturday hours will be 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. for morning kickoffs; 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. for afternoon games; and 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. for evening starts. Hours will be posted on the doors to the building.
For the Sept. 2 game, the University Bookstore will offer free stickers (while they last) honoring Sam Foltz, the Husker punter who was killed in a car accident earlier this year.
Along with renting the building from the university, Follett is also paying for utilities, security and maintenance of the facility during the football season.
“It’s not going to cost the university a thing for us to set up shop in this building,” Fuchs said. “We’re also really excited about it because, for us, it means we do not have to tear everything down, box it up and take it back to the store after the game. All we have to do this season for our secondary location is turn off the lights and lock the door.”
The University Bookstore in the Nebraska Union will also be open for Husker fans on game days.
Charles O’Connor, dean of the Hixson-Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts, said the rental of the space to the University Bookstore would not impact university plans for the Carson Center.
“The use of the building in this fashion will not affect future renovations of the store into the new Johnny Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts,” O’Connor said. “We do not expect to begin construction for another year.”
The Carson Center was established with a $20 million gift from the Johnny Carson Foundation and will fuse virtual production with performance experiences in film, theater, live stage, gaming, interactive media, broadcast and internet media, and augmented and virtual reality. The program will be led by the university’s Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film, which is within the College of Fine and Performing Arts.
The college is currently searching for a new director of the Carson School. O’Connor said that, when the position is filled, architectural and planning processes for the new Carson Center will begin in earnest.
For more information about the Carson Center, click here.
