Collegiate Times

Starting in January, the Tech Bookstore on South Main Street will begin expanding into the store’s front parking lot to accommodate new merchandise and more space.

"The store will extend to where the Hokie Bird in the front is now," said information clerk Jessie Phelps.

Plans also include knocking out the back walls and bathrooms to allow for more space and moving the offices to a second floor. This will provide space for new products and bigger areas for textbooks, general books, supplies, and clothing.

"We are mainly focused on expanding our clothing and text book areas," Phelps said.

This will be the Tech Bookstore’s third expansion in the twenty years that it has been in business, said store manager Jerry Diffell. The renovation will provide more room for crowds, new carpeting and aisles for organization.

"If you have ever been in here on a football game or when students come back to school, you know how crowded it gets," Diffell said.

The Tech Bookstore is a privately-run bookstore and a part of the Nebraska Book Company. Along with 235 other stores in the Nebraska Book Company, Tech Bookstore is off campus and competes with the on-campus bookstores.

"The competition really does keep the prices down," Diffell said.

Both stores sell Virginia Tech merchandise, text-books and general books.

The Virginia Tech University Bookstore on-campus has also expanded before and it has been good for them, said Don Williams, executive manager for Student Services.

"When you have been in business as long as we have and Tech Bookstore has, it is good to expand," Williamssaid. "They have always been good competitors and I think it is good that they are expanding."