University of Arizona BookStores upped its retail game last month when Lululemon joined the campus retailer’s other premium brands Nike, HydroFlask, North Face and Apple Technologies.
With Lululemon, the UA further solidifies its status as a hub for high-quality, designer merchandise and has reshaped the bookstore’s retail landscape in response to rising demand from students and faculty for new and innovative clothing and fashions.
The store opened on March 22 and Mia Navarro, a sales associate at the UA Bookstores, said it was busy all day. When she arrived at the bookstores at 6 that Friday morning, she was greeted by lines of mostly students stretching around the store and extending past the Starbucks nearby.
After waiting in line, UA senior Kylie Dumas got her chance to shop the collection around noon on Friday. Twenty minutes later, she skipped out with the biggest grin and three items in hand — a navy women’s jacket, red shorts and a pair of navy shorts. Total cost: $350.
The University of Arizona is one of the latest universities to get a Lululemon partnership. The company has a presence in a number of campuses nationwide, including Pennsylvania State University, the University of Alabama and, just before the UA, the University of Washington.
UA freshman Devin Dudek, an avid Lululemon wearer, stood by a rack of sweaters, a Lululemon sweatshirt in hand, and intently scanned the shelves.
“I think it’s really cool that the university is doing this like ‘Bama,” Dudek said, searching for her size in the racks of limited Lululemon hoodies. “I really wanted it to be here, and when I saw it, I was so excited.”
Crystal Kennedy, who oversees women’s apparel, all headwear and Lululemon buying for the UA BookStores, highlighted their top sellers: The Men’s Steady State Hoodie with the block ‘A’ — it goes for $160 — and the same style in the crew neck with the vintage cactus logo for $10 less.
“We saw women and men purchasing that item and that will probably be the first apparel item to sell out,” Kennedy said.
In the fall, UA BookStores will add more fashions and Alienware gaming systems to its repertoire. The gaming systems will add another dimension to the array of cutting-edge technology offerings available on campus, said Peter Neff, executive director of the University of Arizona BookStores.
“What we are really aiming towards when it comes to the next school year is more fashion trend items so that we can keep it really fresh because we found if we don’t change, people get bored,” Neff said.
The University of Arizona once had a live "Wildcat" mascot; however, the current mascot ─ with a few changes that include wife, Wilma, along the way ─ Wilbur the Wildcat has been a favorite around Tucson for more than 60 years.
