After two semesters of an empty campus coffee shop, students once again have somewhere to grab fresh brews.

“Our plans for this space were to turn it into a hub, basically, and I just got a promotion to run this location, so I’m really excited,” Director of Dining Service Zachary Schmidt said. 

The new store, located in the first floor of Frontier Hall, occupies the space of the former “Hundred Wood” restaurant.

The original Starbucks closed May 19, 2017. Original plans called for the new location to open during the 2017 academic year, but due to the amount of necessary construction needed, plans were delayed.

“The students have been waiting for this…the Starbucks was a hub for kids to meet before and get coffee in the morning,” Schmidt said. “With it being off campus I feel that it took a toll, but now we’re back and I’m glad everyone is checking us out.”

While Point Perk is not an official corporate Starbucks, it is considered a “We Proudly Brew” location. This gives campus food service provider CulinArt full control over menu items while still serving Starbucks
beverages.

“It’s a huge benefit for us,” Schmidt said. “We are allowed to serve their coffee… but we have more control over the food. We can create our own displays and cases and also rotate the menu.”

Point Perk will also serve a number of exclusive menu items.

“All of our breakfast sandwiches are exclusive. You won’t find them at another Starbucks or even anywhere else at Point Park,” Schmidt said.

Along with exclusive items, Point Perk also sells the sushi that is found at the Point Cafe.

Like the former campus Starbucks, students are able to use flex dollars when making purchases. Starbucks gift cards, however, are no longer accepted.

“Drinks around Downtown can be super expensive, and Market Square charges so much for anything,” sports, arts and entertainment management sophomore Logan LaMaster said. “It’s nice being able to use my flex dollars from tuition to be able to get Starbucks coffee.”

As reported by The Globe last September, Dean of Students Keith Paylo said he intended for the space to be a new spot for students to hang out on campus. To do so, CulinArt is teaming up with students in the sports, arts and entertainment management program and Pioneer Records to hold a number of events.

“I created a class called Talent and Booking…and they have been given the charge to create entertainment for the new space,” professor and founder of Pioneer Records Ed Traversari said.

During the course, students are segmented into three organizations to handle each aspect of setting up live shows. These groups consist of booking, marketing and production.

According to Travaseri, along with Pioneer Records artists, he would like to see touring artists play at Point Perk as well as holding open mic nights and even hosting stand-up comedy.

“We are looking at open mic nights… those are very important nights to do at colleges,” Travaseri said. “I think we’ll definitely have what we might call Pioneer records nights which will just be entertainment from artists we’ve worked with on campus.”

While Pioneer Records artists will perform at Point Perk, Travaseri would like to see any interested students perform too.

“We are encouraging people that, if you are an entertainer and want to perform, please be in touch with me,” Travseri said. “I want people to know that we want them to perform.”

In the coming weeks, a stage will be assembled for these nights of entertainment. Travaseri said he is hopeful they will be able to move the stage outside for artists to perform in both Point Perk and Village Park.

“It’s interesting and exciting because I don’t think our campus has anything like that,” Travaseri said.

The Point Perk entertainment schedule will be released in the coming weeks. In the meantime, the Campus Activities Board will host an acoustic performance featuring Allissa Logsdon Friday at 7:30 p.m.