EastSide Market has been relocated to Brittain Rec due to the demolition of its original location on North Avenue to make way for the new North Avenue dining hall.
The North Avenue dining hall has created a construction zone in that area for the next 12 months or so. Because of this, Wingnuts, Quiznos and EastSide Market have all been closed.
The demolition on the interior of Quiznos and EastSide Market occurred over winter break. All of the major demolition work has already been completed. Most of the construction should begin after the exams in May.
“EastSide Market and Quiznos were both forced out of their locations because demolition had to begin over winter break, and we thought that students need a late night convenience store option so that they wouldn’t cross over the interstate at night and go to the BP,” said Jimmy Williams, SGA Vice President of Campus Affairs.
UHR started to look at locations on campus that would be conducive to a convenience store and somewhere on East Campus, since West Campus is already serviced by the WestSide Market.
“Brittain Rec was one of the locations that we were investigating. We initially thought the space would be somewhat smaller because of the laundry facilities and Buzz By,” Williams said. “But after talking to facilities and some of the architects and design team that were working on the dining hall itself, they told us that they could redesign Brittain Rec to accommodate the relocation of EastSide Market.”
Various student leaders from SGA and RHA participated in a panel and voiced what they gathered as the student body’s opinion to the administration.
Auxiliary Services and Director of the Student Center Rich Steele conducted a survey in which over 1200 students participated. Based on the survey’s results, both groups agreed with a plan to move EastSide Market to Buzz By. The project was done over winter break. The design team (which consisted of Rich Steele and Project Coordinator Jay Jenkins) led the project.
“It was almost a copy of what was available at the original EastSide,” Williams said. “Obviously, some of the selection is going to be reduced because there is not quite as much space as the original EastSide but they still offer much of the stuff that was in the original EastSide Market.”
“It’s currently open during Buzz By hours and then it closes and will reopen from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m.,” said Kaitlyn Whiteside, chair of the SGA campus services committee. “We are hoping that allows for students to purchase late night things whether it is snacks or toiletries, etc. We are hoping that they won’t cross over the bridge to the BP as that can be dangerous after dark.”
The new EastSide Market will maintain the similar late-night hours that it was had at North Avenue and be open during the day.
“We are really excited about Buzz By and the new EastSide market and we hope that students use it and find it convenient,” Whiteside said.