UC Davis Stores

UC Davis has signed five-year leases for its downtown store, which will occupy two storefronts, 624 and 630 Second St. One of these spaces is vacant, after previously housing a First Northern Bank real estate unit. The other space is occupied by Strands Salon, which will relocate to a new space in the same building, on the F Street side.

Kratochvil said the landlord will consolidate the two spaces, and, after that, UC Davis will start on the interior improvements — complete with blue and gold colors, of course.

With the opening of the downtown satellite, UC Davis Stores will comprise seven locations. Two are in the Memorial Union (the main store and the Corral convenience store) and the others are in the ARC (Pro Shop), the Health Sciences District (Veterinary Bookstore) and the South Silo, and on the Sacramento campus.

More building news: The main bookstore’s expansion project is on “pause,” said Brett Burns, executive director of Memorial Union Auxiliary Services. He attributed the pause to financial uncertainties at UC Davis and throughout the UC system. “As more variables of the MU financial plan become clear, the campus will make the decision to move forward or continue the ‘pause,’” he told Dateline UC Davis.

The project would boost the main store’s square footage from 26,000 to 46,000, by way of a two-story addition on Freeborn Plaza, between Freeborn Hall and the bookstore. The giant UC Davis seal in the concrete will be moved north, to a new spot near the north end of the existing bookstore.

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UC Davis Stores

Campus Grown

Good Life Collection

Our 103-year-old town and gown relationship is headed into a new phase.

But, instead of town and gown, let’s call it town and T-shirt. And sweatshirt. And hat. And olive oil.

These are among the university-branded products that the UC Davis Bookstore plans to sell in its new downtown shop — the first ever that will not be on campus (or across the street from the medical center). Officials said the 4,200-square-foot store at Second and F streets (near the Varsity Theatre) should be open by mid-June.

“We’re excited to be bringing our unique blend of products to downtown Davis,” said Chuck Kratochvil, director of the UC Davis Bookstore.

Actually, the bookstore operation is in the midst of a name change, to UC Davis Stores, reflecting the fact that they sell a lot more than books, and that books are secondary at some of the stores, like the Pro Shop at the Activities and Recreation Center.

The new store, tentatively called the UC Davis Store, Downtown. will carry UC Davis apparel and gifts, along with school and office supplies, greeting cards, sundries and convenience items.

And it will carry a limited selection of books, including national bestsellers and books that relate to UC Davis: books by campus authors, volumes on viticulture and enology, and the annual selection in the Campus Community Book Project, for example.

“We have no desire to compete with The Avid Reader right across the street,” Kratochvil said.

Nor will the UC Davis Store, Downtown, have a textbook department.

Making room for speciality items

The store will carry many of the same UC Davis-branded products that you see in the main store and some you don’t, because the main store does not have the room. (An expansion is in the works; see box.)

For example, the new store will carry a variety of wood bowls and vases and such — called Campus Grown products because they are made from wood that is salvaged from campus trees. (While the main store does not have room for the Campus Grown products, you can see and buy them on the bookstore's website — or you can wait for the new store to open. You can also see the products on the Campus Grown website, which links to the bookstore site for sales.)

The new store also will carry UC Davis’ new line of decorative silk scarves — incorporating faculty and student artwork — from the campus’s Good Life Collection.

Jean Aguirre, general merchandise manager, said the apparel offerings in the new store will range from trendy to more conservative items that alumni may prefer. “We also think our alumni will like a new line of clothing, coming soon, with historic UC Davis logos,” she said.

The downtown store also will feature screen printing and embroidery, on the premises, for customizing of apparel.

Kratochvil said the store will be a place where Davis residents and visitors can stock up on Aggie Pride even when the main store is closed, for example, on most Sundays.

He said he also hopes to draw customers who might not otherwise venture onto the campus, perhaps because they do not want to pay for parking. Or because, during the winter holidays, people may see little activity at the edges of the campus — and incorrectly assume that the bookstore is closed (the bookstore reduces its hours during the winter holidays, but it does not shut down).

'A hit with everyone concerned'

As for the downtown store, look for it to be open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday — according to the tentative schedule.

“I think the new store is going to be a hit with everyone concerned — the business community, faculty, staff and students, and all of our customers,” Kratochvil said. “We believe it will be a very successful and welcome addition to downtown.”

Joy Cohan, director of the Davis Downtown Business Association, said she is particularly happy to see the opening of a store with a complete line of school and office supplies.

“This will really fill a niche,” she said. In the absence of Carousel Stationery, which closed a couple of years ago, the closest place for anything beyond basic office supplies is across town, she said — and that’s not good, when downtown business people must leave downtown to do their purchasing.

“It will be great to have all that again, right here in downtown,” Cohan said.

To make things even more convenient for downtown merchants, Kratochvil said the new store will make deliveries.

Cohan said downtown has not seen a new retailer of this size in a long while. “This will attract a lot of attention,” she said. “I think every one of our merchants will rise because of this.”

At the same time, she said, the store will strengthen the downtown-campus connection.

That connection will be readily apparent in the new store’s town and gown inventory. That’s right: The store will carry city of Davis-branded products alongside UC Davis gifts.