By Kathryna Hoyman · Managing Editor
The pride and joy of Mercer County — the Grove City Premium Outlets — has recently made some additions and omissions that affect students.
One of the most notable of these changes is the closing of the outlet mall’s Starbucks. “I understand the exit… as people would rather give their money to a local coffee shop, especially now that Starbucks’s prices have ramped up so much,” junior Sophia Lodico said.
While the closing of this store makes sense, it is widely considered as a tragedy on campus.
Instead of the approximately 13-minute drive to the outlets to get their early-morning pumpkin spice latte, students now have to drive to the Starbucks on Slippery Rock University’s campus. Though the drive time is about the same, walking through another college’s campus to get Starbucks is an experience that Grovers joyfully avoided when the outlets had a Starbucks of their own.
“My heart grieves at the thought of Starbucks being gone,” freshman Andee Varga stated.
Senior Caitlyn Burns, who is an employee at the Outlets’ Ann Taylor store, talked about some other recent changes to the commercial landscape.
“The Hanes outlet is in the process of closing down, and Versona went out earlier this summer,” Burns said.
With the closing of beloved stores, however, comes the opening of several new stores, including Lululemon, Ulta Beauty and Manga Spot.
Lululemon is officially coming soon to the outlets, and its advent is greeted with mixed excitement and passivity.
Some students expressed enthusiasm for the trendy athletic apparel retailer coming to Grove City. “I think the Lululemon store arriving is an exciting addition to the outlet stores. It’ll be fun to have different types of athletic wear stores to choose from,” junior Bonnie Pittman said.
The majority of responses conveyed that though students like the brand, they find their items too expensive for someone trying to put themselves through college. “I really like Lululemon, I just don’t want to spend $85 on a pair of shorts,” junior Evan Wheat explained.
Still others were completely confused when asked about the chain store. “Honestly, what is Lululemon?” senior Liam Cummings responded.
The outlet’s Ulta Beauty had its grand opening in August of this year, and students have been enjoying the presence of the U.S.’s largest beauty retailer in their own town.
“Especially with Rite Aid closing, it’s so great that we finally have a place to get quality makeup and other products. It was clean, well-stocked and had a wide range of prices, from more affordable (but still good quality products— ELF, etc.) to more expensive prod-“
While some concern was expressed about the price, the very experience of going into the store is worth it to many. “I was actually there the other day and lowkey surprised that they had more stuff … I was like … ‘I can spend literally hours here.’ I mean, makeups are definitely way too overpriced these days, and I’m a broke college student so I couldn’t spend whole lot of money, but just looking around and trying them on makes me happy,” junior Hayun Song said.
“Another good thing is when I order stuff from Ulta online I can go pick them up at the shopping mall,” Song added.
For students with more niche interests, Manga Spot also opened a location at the local outlets recently. “This is a significant development for manga readers in the area as it has thus far been limited to sections of bookstores and comic shops,” senior Madelyn Braho said.
While the Grove City Outlets are striving to keep up with current consumer demands, the hub continues to provide a great off-campus location for students to get a break from the pressure of college.
The local area immediately next to the college is also changing, most notably with whispers of a new Thai restaurant opening on Broad Street.
