By Brad Butterfield

After three years of business, the Campus Store, Eureka has closed, leaving a mighty six-figure deficit in its wake. Alternatively, the off-campus Campus Store, Arcata, remains open despite a significantly larger deficit and far higher operating costs. The university remains committed to utilizing the off-campus storefront as a bridge between the community and university, and there are no current plans to shut down the Arcata location, according to Aileen Yoo, Director of News and Information for Cal Poly Humboldt. 

From November 2021 to September of this year, the Campus Store, Eureka accumulated a deficit of $149,745, according to public records. The university did not renew the store’s lease, which expired on Oct. 31. The storefront had been established to increase the university’s economic footprint outside of Arcata, as well as to better serve members of the campus community living in Eureka, according to Yoo. While the store succeeded in expanding the university’s economic footprint, it had failed to turn a profit after three years of business. 

“That location proved to be a financial liability that outweighed these other considerations, leading to its closure and a renewed focus on the on-campus and Arcata Plaza locations to best serve our students and community,” Yoo said.

While the Campus Store, Arcata is operated by Follet, a nation-wide store operator for colleges, the Eureka location was operated by the Humboldt Outfitters, a Humboldt County based company. In this business agreement, the university paid the Humboldt Outfitters $3,000 every month to operate the store, according to Grant Scott-GoForth, who was the communications specialist for the university at the time of the interview. Additionally, the Humboldt Outfitters earned 5% off of every sale, according to Scott-Goforth. The agreement with the Humbodlt Outfitters resulted in the Campus Store, Eureka offering a much different inventory from the Campus Store, Arcata. 

Kianna Znika, a Cal Poly Humboldt alum and former social media manager for the Humboldt Outfitters, said that when she visited the Campus Store, Eureka, the retail environment was far from ideal.

 “It was just very clear that nothing was really being done there,” Znika said. “There were old pizza boxes stacking up, and people were always just on their phones or like, doing homework behind the counter.” 

 The store’s enduring financial woes, however, may have had less to do with its inventory and management, and more to do with the lack of students within the city of Eureka, according to Miles Slattery, city manager of Eureka. 

Slattery emphasized that the effort to create university-provided student and/or faculty housing in Eureka is ongoing and would likely benefit both the university and the city. Bringing a significant population of the campus community likely should have come prior to a retail store though, according to Slattery. 

“We’ve tried multiple times on housing projects to get some more students into our city, and I think that would help out a lot,” Slattery said. “It’s kind of a cart before the horse kind of thing … You know, you need to get housing here before you can see [the] benefit from the economy.”

Conversely, the 10,200 square foot Campus Store, Arcata is located within a mile from campus and is central to the thousands of students and faculty who call Arcata home. Despite its location on the Arcata plaza, however, the Campus Store, Arcata has fared far worse than the Eureka location — at least, financially speaking. From November 2021 to Sep. of this year, the Campus Store, Arcata has accumulated a deficit of $447,655. Rent alone at the downtown Arcata location costs the university $12,240 a month. The primary objectives for the off-campus Campus Store are centered around relationship building, visibility, and accessibility, according to Scott-Goforth, who did not include profitability as a measure of success for the store. Despite the Campus Store, Arcata’s financial difficulties, the university has no current plans to significantly change operations at the off-campus Campus Store, Arcata nor at the on-campus Bookstore, according to Yoo.

“We are focused on leveraging both locations to provide the services and products that customers want and allowing the Plaza location, in particular, to serve as a connecting point between the campus and community,” said Yoo.

Todd Larsen, senior director for enterprise services at Cal Poly Humbodlt, did not respond to an interview request.

Brad Butterfield will graduate Cal Poly Humboldt this December with a degree in journalism. He has worked as a maid, mechanic, butler, bartender, tour guide, server, photographer, and farmhand, [etc] – but is now chasing down the dream of fruitful employment in journalism.