Fleece, outerwear and cold weather gear will be on sale Dec. 7 and Dec. 14 as part of the bookstore’s new weekly discounts. | Billion Tekleab/The Cougar
Champion brand merchandise and drinkware will be discounted Friday at the UH Official Bookstore in Student Center South as part of the newly implemented Friday sales.
After noticing the high price markup of items in the bookstore, Student Government Association President Cameron Barrett said he wanted to find a way to give students a discount.
“The prices are higher than what I can get somewhere else,” said finance sophomore Dillon Dahya. “It depends on the brand too — Nike is going to be up there. I usually go with off brand stuff; it’s cheaper for a student.”
Following negotiations with auxiliary services, a deal was reached to offer Friday sales at the bookstore in conjunction with $5 Cougar Red Fridays, which allow faculty and students to eat at the dining halls at a 40 percent discount on Fridays if they are wearing red.
With different merchandise on sale each week, Barrett said, students have the opportunity to support the University without having to rely on cheaper alternatives such as Academy or Walmart for their UH apparel.
Barrett said the bookstore is priced for convenience and at a higher markup than other stores, since it comes with the advantage of students not having to leave campus. The UH bookstore markup on goods is 100 percent, which is normal, Barrett said.
“This belt that I had to buy on an emergency one day, because I forgot my belt at home and I was like ‘I got to have a belt,'” Barrett said. “This cloth belt cost $50. There’s no way in hell you spent $25 on this belt as a manufacturer.”
Although talks of establishing a sale began in the summer, the first day of the sale was Oct. 6 and there has been a new sale every Friday since. The program is still relatively new, so not all students are aware of the opportunity to shop at a lower price point.
“I don’t always come to the Student Center so I don’t really know when there is (a sale) going on unless I pass by it,” said education junior Claudia Martinez.
Martinez said she would like UH to advertise the sale on social media because it has the possibility to reach more students that way.
The bookstore has deals often, Barrett said, but the current advertising for those discounts is lacking. Students will receive emails for special sales, but that is usually as far as advertising goes.
Barrett is currently working to get a permanent sign advertising the sale dates and details placed in the bookstore.
“If you go to Subway, how they have the sandwich of the day, it’s like ‘come here on Tuesday and our mozzarella meatball sandwich is $5,'” Barrett said. “Can we get something similar with the bookstore where, here are the sales of the semester each Friday and can we post that outside?”
Auxiliary services is still in the process of creating the new sales for the spring semester.
“I don’t think (Auxiliary Services) will take it away,” Barrett said. “But theoretically, they could probably just take it away when I leave office and nobody would notice, but I don’t think they will.”
Students still have time to browse the following sales:
Nov. 16 – Champion and drinkware, buy one get one
Nov. 23 – Closed, Black Friday sale will be online
Nov. 30 – Ornaments
Dec. 7 – 25 percent off entire stock of fleece, outerwear and cold weather
Dec. 14 – 25 percent off entire stock of fleece, outerwear and cold weather
