Formerly, the 1851 Market was located inside the Arnow Campus Center. However, after excessive theft in the previous school year, the market was forced to shut down. As of this Thursday, the empty space in Arnow is now home to a display for the student-run retail business, studio1851.
The display will only be temporary as Lasell searches for a permanent solution to fill the space. A 24/7 market does not seem to be a possibility for that space due to financial restraints. Vice President for Finance and Administration, Derek Pinto, says there have been no current talks for an around-the-clock market, although it's open for discussion.
“The issue, as you're aware of last year, was the shrinkage, the loss, and items. So I don't think that the system we had anticipated would be that kind of loss…I mean, you have to pay somebody to be there, and man the space, it works out to be a losing proposition, it's not fiscally responsible,” Pinto said.
Pinto’s department is working on balancing the fiscal responsibility with student needs. “So we're trying to balance this fiscal responsibility with meeting the needs of the students…We haven't put any plans in place to bring back a 24/7 Market.”
Although there are no current talks for an all day market, the university did examine the possibility at the tail end of the last semester. Lasell looked into the possibility of having a hotel style, card swipe at the door system, where students would have been billed upon the removal of products. According to Pinto, financial restraints shut down the possibility of a hotel style market.
“It was Amazon technology, I believe. So while it was a great idea, and while we've seen it in practice in various hotels and other hospitality settings, it just wasn't going to be fiscally responsible. Again, it represented a really significant investment of dollars to make it happen and so to recoup those costs, it was just prohibitive,” Pinto said.
Without an open market, students can find late-night dining options at Boomer’s Grill three nights a week. The extended service hours are on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday until 11:00 p.m. Pinto explained that the changes to the service hours were based on late night swipe frequency.
“SGA had done a survey and we were looking at how to reduce costs, because with declining student enrollment there hasn't been enough volume to justify the opening for the additional night at this stage,” said Pinto. “So of course, we remain flexible and are open to students. Should demand increase, then that would be something that would be considered going forward.”
Lasell is also looking into adding more vending machines to give students more convenient snack options. “It is being worked on and numbers are being looked at. So it’s just what those numbers look like and what the school likes for certain options but they are planning to put vending machines in,” said SGA Vice President of Financial Affairs and senior accounting and finance major Michael Palumbo.
While studio1851 occupies the space in Arnow, there is no concrete plan as to what the permanent solution will be. One idea that was floated out there was to transform the space into a mini arcade.
“So there was talk of a mini arcade. There's some faculty especially that would like it to be an arcade,” Palumbo said. Palumbo said he believes the school is still trying to figure out exactly what to do with the space.