Callie Parrish//The Daily Cougar
Sugar and spice and everything nice — the long awaited Sprinkles Cupcakes ATM is finally opening in Houston.
After a year of waiting because of design issues, according to the Houston Chronicle, the ATM is expected to begin operating in October. Located by the current Sprinkles Cupcake shop on Westheimer Road, the ATM will be open 24 hours each day.
Although only 16 minutes away from campus, the location of the ATM is not exactly convenient for University students. It would be great for campus attendees and for the Sprinkles Corporation to expand the ATMs to college campuses, or at least try one out at, say, UH.
With more than 40,000 students and close to 2,000 professors, according to CollegeBoard, the University is a great potential source of customers. Furthermore, the ATM is the perfect solution to late-night sugar cravings for campus residents who have few options for late-night snacks nearby, which is where the idea began.
“I conceived the idea of an automatic cupcake machine after having late-night sugar cravings while pregnant with my second son,” said Candace Nelson, founder of Sprinkles Cupcakes, in a press release. “Even as Sprinkles’s founder, I couldn’t get my midnight cupcake fix. I thought, ‘There has to be a way,’ and so the concept of the Sprinkles Cupcake ATM was born.”
Admittedly, because this hypothetical ATM on campus would not be right next to the cupcake shop as are the other three — soon to be four — ATMs, there would be some changes regarding restocking. ATMs located near the cupcake shops are restocked three times a day and carry between 300 cupcakes in Dallas’s ATM and 600 in Chicago’s. The restocking schedule for a campus ATM could be devised depending on its size and the frequency with which it is used. Although not so convenient for its suppliers, traveling to deliver and restock a campus ATM is manageable.
The ATM is obviously not essential. Then again, neither is the future campus movie theatre in the University Center North. It is like many other campus amenities: something to make it more appealing for current and future residents and attendees. And, with 25 different flavored cupcakes, it would sure make the University a whole lot sweeter.
Opinion columnist Monica Rojas is a print journalism sophomore and may be reached at [email protected].
UH is still missing a lot of cool businesses unfortunately. We lack a cupcake shop, fro-yo shop, a bigger bar scene, a convenient dine-in pizza joint, drugstore, etc. Having to drive/bus/bike a fair distance to get to one is pretty sad for a big university like UH. I hope the ATM will come someday soon for those interested in it.