Page 23 - Laker Connection Spring 2012

If Clayton State University is no longer Clayton Junior College, then The Loch Shop is no longer the Bookstore. Although maybe not a deep, philosophical thought that should come under the scrutiny of Dr. Ron Jackson, Dr. Alexander Hall or Dr. Todd Janke, there nonetheless is a direct cause and effect rela- tionship between the two name changes. In simple terms, the University’s retail outlet has changed as much as the University in the past 40+ years, and the two changes are indeed re- lated.
Let’s start at the beginning, and bring in the expert on things Clayton State, Emeritus Director of Student Life Rob Taylor. Having started at Clayton Junior College in 1971, Tay- lor recalls the “roots” of the current and very modern retail operation now known as The Loch Shop.
“The bookstore opened with the College in September 1969, otherwise the students would not have had a way to get their books!” he explains. “Al Gore had not in- vented the internet and Amazon was a river or a tall woman. I arrived not quite two years later and the bookstore was located down- stairs in the Student Center across from the cafeteria.”
That location, which was just across the hall from The Loch Shop’s newly-expanded digs, sold, not surprisingly, textbooks... and very little else. As far as soft goods were con- cerned, Taylor recalls gym uniforms (yes, Clayton State had P.E. classes in those days), specifically white with blue lettering Clayton Junior College t-shirts and blue with white lettering Clayton Junior College gym shorts that were obviously practical, but not exactly fashion statements. (On the other hand, if you happen to have one of these gym uniforms, and would like to donate same to Clayton State, Archivist Rosemary Fischer would be thrilled.)
Taylor’s near-eidetic Clayton State knowledge also includes previous Bookstore managers – predecessors to current boss
Todd Smith -- Sergeant Weber (Taylor says he looked like a Marine D.I.), Gail Nicholson and Alan Bates. He also claims that the most notable figure to ever work in the Bookstore was Philadelphia native Thomasina “Tom- mie” DeWeese.
“Tommie was as Yankee as anyone who ever served on the staff of the CJC, CSC, CCSU and CSU bookstore,” he claims. “A thoroughly refreshing person who said what was on her mind and loved the students.”
While DeWeese was an important part of The Loch Shop’s history, her boss was the one who started the outlet on the road to the status of a destination of choice for Clayton State students, faculty and staff. That would be Robert “Bob” Holmes, himself as much a Clayton State institution as Taylor or the Bookstore. Holmes took over as Bookstore manager in May 1978, and put in 29 years in the position until his retirement in June 2007 (although he can still be seen on campus, helping out the Office of Auxiliary Services.)
“For all practical purposes, the store was just a textbook and school supply store until we became a four-year institution in 1986,” he remembers. “At that time we started stocking insignia merchandise. Although we did attempt to sell trade and mass market books prior to 1995, it was never a successful venture.”
Serving an institution of less than 5,000 students, exactly zero of whom lived on cam- pus, it’s not surprising that non-Clayton State-related materials were a tough sell. Well, as noted earlier, times have changed. The University now has close to 7,000 stu- dents (with several hundred living on cam- pus), and a “college store” that is both a purveyor of a wide variety of college books, gear and supplies, and the best bookstore this side of Southlake Mall. As the University has changed, so, too, has The Loch Shop changed and adapted, all in the name of better service, primarily for students. Those changes even included a couple of re-locations, first to the
Baker Center, then back to the Student Cen- ter, then back to the Baker Center again for the summer of 2011, so that the new, im- proved Loch Shop could not only be built, but re-named as well.
In an official ribbon-cutting ceremony on the morning of Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2011, Assis- tant VP Carolina Amero, Smith, and the en- tire bookstore crew announced the new name at the old/new location on the first floor of the Student Center. The winning Loch Shop entry was submitted by former Clayton State Student Government Associa- tion President Darius Thomas.
Thomas renamed a far bigger and better store, with a lounge area, far more retail space, and far more stock; everything from frozen microwave lunches, to copies of “The Hunger Games” trilogy, to books authored by Clayton State faculty and staff (you can pick up a paperback copy of “The King James Conspiracy”), to a vast array of Clayton State gear, to backpacks, to textbooks, school sup- plies, and much-needed candy for those late- in-the-day low blood sugar blues.
“Our goal with the remodel was to pro- vide a larger and more welcoming retail en- vironment in which we could display a broader selection of the merchandise which students need to be academically successful and which they want to fit their collegiate lifestyle,” explains Smith. “The shop’s new look allows our operation to offer a more var- ied product selection, which we hope will make the Loch Shop a place students want to visit throughout the semester instead of the place they have to visit to buy books once at the beginning of the semester.”
With recent events like a Phillip DePoy book signing, a visit from Santa, regular book sales, and an autograph session for the 2011 National Champion women’s basketball team, Smith and The Loch Shop have indeed become the place to go on campus.
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