Starbucks to open in Bovee University Center next week

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The world’s largest coffeehouse company will begin to make its presence known on the Central Michigan University campus next week.

A Starbucks coffee shop will be opening Tuesday on the main level of the Bovee University Center. The Starbucks will be one of a few on-campus stores for students to get their caffeine fix, which include Einstein Bros Bagels and Java City.

Twenty-five students have been hired to work at Starbucks and will be fully trained by the Tuesday grand opening, one day after Martin Luther King Day.

The Starbucks will accept FLEX dollars along with regular forms of payment from students, faculty and staff.

CMU Campus Dining Location Manager Jennifer Souva said in an email that Java City will remain separate and unaffected by the opening of Starbucks.

“Java City is a separate, established national coffee brand,” Souva said. “The existing Java City Coffee Houses in the Park Library and Health Professions Buildings will remain Java City Coffee Houses.”

CMU Campus Dining Marketing Manager Nikki Smith is an employee of Aramark, the company that oversees much of the on-campus food operations, including Starbucks.

“We are extremely excited to open this new, national brand on the campus of CMU,” Smith said in an email. “We’ve already received lots of confirmation from students, faculty and staff that Starbucks is a well-loved brand and a fantastic addition to the Bovee University Center.”

Lansing graduate student Mike McArthur, a regular coffee drinker, said he will continue to purchase coffee from Java City when on campus.

“I’m not the biggest Starbucks fan, but I guess there’s two ways you can look at it,” McArthur said. “It’s great that students have so many options with coffee shops, but to me, coffee is coffee and Java City has been Central’s coffee shop for years.”

McArthur said he was unsure why the administration would bring another coffee franchise on campus when a few are already established.

“You would think the administration might want to put a Java City in the UC or move it across the street rather than bringing another company in,” McArthur said. “I think it creates unnecessary competition. There are only so many students and this will be the fifth or sixth coffee shop on campus.”