Union¹s store adopts new name

Sunday, August 25, 1996

Retail director claims student involvement not undersold with
new titleBy Michael Angell

Summer Bruin Staff

"What’s in a name?" asks Shakespeare’s Juliet.

How about thousands of dollars in revenue from shoppers
attracted by a catchy name, says Carol Anne Smart, director of
retail services for the students’ association (ASUCLA).

But what about the elimination of "Students" from the new retail
store in Ackerman Union, asks ASUCLA Board of Directors student
member James Hagar.

Not that students will not be allowed into the new retail store,
but some claim that students should not think of it as solely
theirs any longer.

ASUCLA Retail Operations has formally adopted a new name for
Ackerman Union’s retail store, but some students are concerned that
the name change means losing power over enterprises that have
traditionally been their domain.

Come September, the former "ASUCLA Students’ Store" will be
rechristened "The UCLA Store." Smart said that the new name gives
the store a hip, current image.

The store has been toying with the new name over the last nine
months. Ads run in the Daily Bruin have borne "The UCLA Store"
logo. Smart said that customers have been giving the new name a
thumbs up.

"The primary reason for the new name was to have a short, clear
and concise name," Smart said. "A name that makes the most of our
primary asset ­ our relationship with UCLA."

In an era of snappy retail names, Smart is counting on the
streamlined moniker to draw in customers, especially from
off-campus. According to one association memo, the old name was
confusing because many people were not familiar with what the "AS"
stood for. Besides, Smart said, the old name was "long,
stodgy-sounding, difficult to pronounce without hissing, and
confusing to many of our customer groups."

The ASUCLA marketing department came up with the new name about
a year ago, following the lead of the "Gap", "The Limited" and even
UCLA’s own business school, which uses " The Anderson School"
instead of the more weighty "Anderson Graduate School of
Management." Such names, Smart asserts, provide a clear identity to
consumers.

However, the new name has not been warmly received by all. Some
students, including Hagar, felt the name change was symbolic of the
change of the students’ association from being largely student-run
to being run by professionals.

"When you take Associated Students out of the name, that’s a big
step," Hagar said. "I need to know a lot more about the reasoning
behind it. We had concerns that (the new name) goes away from what
we want to do as students, serving on the Board of Directors."

For much of its 77-year history, students have run many of the
association’s operations. Yet increasingly, professional
accountants, managers and employees have been recruited to help the
organization out of a record deficit.

But officials said that students should not fret too much
because they still receive some recognition, albeit in a much
smaller font size. Below the new logo, a line reads: "An Enterprise
of the Associated Students." This tagline will appear on the
store’s stationery, invoices and the new store’s doors once they
open this fall. Two large exterior signs over the entrances will
just have what Smart likes to call "the marketing handle."

New association Executive Director Patricia Eastman came up with
the tagline. On her first day on the job, Eastman defused potential
conflict between students and the Board of Directors by suggesting
that students still be acknowledged in the new name.

"We have one of the few student-run associations in the U.S. and
we also have the most successful," Eastman said. "(The students)
have a right to be proud of that and I don’t want to lose
that."