ASUCLA acts to end sales slump
By Sean Greene
Nov. 1, 2009 10:36 p.m.
Food and textbook sales continued to decline in October from the previous year, but Associated Students UCLA expects to see an improvement soon.
Sales were down at ASUCLA stores by 7 to 8 percent during October, an improvement from September’s 14 percent fall.
This may be due to a decrease in people on campus, said Bob Williams, executive director of the ASUCLA board.
“The summer was slower than we anticipated,” Williams said.
“We see things improving and we expect them to get better over the year.”
On Thursday, the Ackerman store held its 32nd annual Halloween Monster Sale, which exceeded revenue expectations by $50,000.
At the same time, the board took an unexpected hit when store management discovered a flood from the last rainstorm that caused $300,000 to $500,000 in damage and $60,000 in ruined inventory to the BearWear stockroom.
“We are going to get hit for a significant expenditure this year because of the flood,” said Rich Delia, ASUCLA’s chief financial officer.
Due to the slow economy, campus restaurants have been serving fewer customers and selling fewer products.
“In general, people are spending less money because they’re worried about unemployment,” Delia said.
“A lot of staff members are starting to brown bag it. They’re being very cautious about what they spend their money on.”
At its Oct. 30 meeting, the board approved expenses amounting to $725,000 out of its reserve, much of which will go to improving the Terrace Food Court, preparing for the new Wolfgang Puck restaurant and to upgrading the Global Viewpoint Lounge.
The upgrades to ASUCLA food services come as part of ASUCLA’s food service master plan, which has brought Jamba Juice, Greenhouse, Carl’s Jr. and Taco Bell to Ackerman. The next step in this plan is the addition of the South Campus Student Center, which will replace the Bombshelter in the Court of Sciences. Construction on that project will begin during winter quarter.
The board also has plans to improve Ackerman with the Global Viewpoint Lounge and the new Game On! room on A-level, which opened at the end of the summer.
The board plans to add new furniture and LCD screens to the Viewpoint Lounge in Ackerman to create a space for students to find a global perspective on campus.
“It’s more of an international space with an international atmosphere,” said Shelley Schwartz, ASUCLA vice chair and graduate student representative.
Williams said that while Game On! has opened, business was still slow.
The store plans to bring customers in with coupons and tournaments, said Student Union Director Roy Champawat.
He said the tournaments were effective and plans to hold more in a few weeks.
“It was connecting people that perhaps wouldn’t have connected before,” Champawat said.
The board plans to combat the 3 percent decline in food sales with new value meals designed to bring customers in.
Williams sees the efforts to lessen costs for students as a cause of slower textbook sales.
“I think there’s a lot of work being done by the faculty and trying to assign less books,” he said.
ASUCLA’s financial results are comparable to what is being seen in retailers all over, Williams said.
Competition from online retailers such as Amazon.com have also taken business from the textbook store. Delia said even the new price-match program will not help sales in the long run.
“We make very little on textbooks,” he said. “Reducing prices anymore isn’t the answer. Eventually, material will all be electronic.”
Publishers can now reach students directly, with online sales and digital forms of distribution.
“We need to develop a strategy to deal with the digitalization of academic materials,” Delia said.
“It’s going to be a real challenge to combat this. We don’t have the answer yet, but we’re going to be dealing with this over the next year,” he added.
