El Camino bookstore facing no new changes when it reopens in November or December. The bookstore, which has been temporarily moved to the Activities Center due to construction, will have no major changes done to it when it returns to its original place, according to faculty members working at the bookstore. They expect the bookstore to return around late November or early December.
The answer comes amid questions concerning the relocation. New students at El Camino have had the most trouble finding the temporary location of the bookstore. “Many of the new students don’t know where it is obviously,” Raphael Byrne said, a bookstore staff member, who is also a student at El Camino. Byrne as well as other staff members at the bookstore believe that the lack of signs showing the location of the bookstore has mainly been the issue.
Students have been trying to adjust to the smaller bookstore. “It has been really busy in the morning before classes start and in the middle of the day,” Byrne said. Deborah Song, another bookstore staff member who is also a student at El Camino, has not dealt with many problems while working. “We just help more people than usual at times, but no complaints, it’s great.”
Other staff members though are trying to adjust to the new problems they face at the relocated bookstore. “One of the problems we have is making sure people are not stealing,” Byrne said. He said the reason it is more difficult than before is because students are now allowed to carry their book bags and backpacks while in the bookstore.
“I’ve had to file 3 reports because books have been unwrapped and CDs have been stolen,” Byrne said. “We have to be more careful since there aren’t any security cameras.” To prevent occurrences such as these, he said that staff members are more aware of the issue. More of them are also working at the same time to prevent these things from happening.
Another problem Byrne pointed out was making sure that the correct books are being stocked. “Some teachers are changing the books without us or the student knowing. We want to make sure we are stocking the right books so students don’t buy the wrong ones.”
Byrne said those are the main problems they have to deal with. “Other than that, just people leaving their food or drinks on the shelves. I even had to throw away a box of doughnuts.”
