Kennel Bookstore sale offers last-minute gifts

By Jackie Womack
The Collegian

The stress of the season’s gift-giving may be eased for people who shop the annual Kennel Bookstore Holiday Open House on Friday, Dec.1 and Saturday, Dec. 2.

The event, which has been held every year for more than 20 years, is a special sale, according to Jack Gartner, merchandiser and assistant manager.

“It’s really a celebration,” he said. “It’s our biggest sale of the year.”

The two-day celebration will include drawings and refreshments, according to Curt Parkinson, operations manager. A quartet from the music department will play on Friday.

“Those are hourly drawings and then we’ll have a big basket of Fresno State memorabilia — valued at over $150 — as the grand prize,” Parkinson said.

Other prizes include a school ring, a digital camera and apparel, he said.

Jazmyne Moore, a student who has worked at the bookstore for a year, was present at the last sale.
“It’s pretty busy,” she said. “Friday is the busiest sale.”

Cindy Orozco, a fellow student worker, said it was busy for a reason.

“Everybody gets 25 percent off,” she said. “And then they have a sale outside.”

Parkinson said the 25 percent off is for in-store merchandise such as apparel, hats, backpacks, general books and supplies, gifts and merchandise with Fresno State printed on it. The discount is not good on any kind of electronics, nursing books and supplies, reference books and textbooks or food items.

“That’s inside the store,” Parkinson said. “Then we set up a tent outside the store, where the discount is anywhere from 50 percent to 75 percent off.”

Gartner said the merchandise in the tent is primarily apparel items.

“These are things that haven’t been in the store before,” he said. “It’s all fresh — with new designs.

That tent gets very crowded, very packed — a lot of people walking around with stuff in their arms.”

He said the sale could make things easier for students.

“Students don’t have a lot of time to shop,” Gartner said. “And that’s especially true this year, with finals going practically right up to Christmas.”

Parkinson said there will be free gift bags and boxes so that students won’t have to worry about wrapping.

“If customers can’t shop on Friday or Saturday, if they shop our Web site on Friday or Saturday they’ll get a 25 percent discount,” he said.

Gartner said none of the money that the Kennel Bookstore makes leaves the campus: what doesn’t go back into the running of the store, goes into funds that improve the campus. He said some of the previous projects that money from the store helped fund were access ramps for the disabled and the library.

“It all goes back to enhance the campus,” Gartner said.

The bookstore will be open 7:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on Friday and 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on Saturday.

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