Technology might not be the first thing to pop into someone’s mind when they hear people talking about the campus store, but Weber State’s Campus Store harbors a wealth of technology that students might not even know exists.
The Weber State Campus Store is located on the first and second floor in the Shepherd Union building. The technology section is located on the first floor and has enough gadgets for all sorts of techies to sink their teeth into.
The store has the ability to order new products and test them out before deciding if they should be sold. One product the store has recently tested is called the Oculus VR which is a mobile, virtual-reality headset. The headset is able to pick up the head movements of the user and adjust the virtual reality accordingly.
Employees at the store said the headset costs approximately $300. The headset is currently housed at the Davis campus store. Mike Xidis, a political science major and employee at the Weber State Campus Store said, “It is great because we get to try these new products and see if they are going to be worthy to sell in the store.”
Another product which has only been in the store for a month is called the olloclip. It is a four-in-one photo lens which can be attached to a smartphone camera. It offers smartphone users the ability try out four different types of lenses: fisheye, wide angle, macro and micro. The price on these lenses ranges anywhere from $60 to $70 and is available for most smartphones.
The olloclip is a fun way for people to experiment with their smartphone camera. The different lenses produce cool effects which, in addition to being able to snap interesting photographs, also gives the user the chance to make videos which wouldn’t be possible without the additional lenses.
When asked about which items were most popular with students, employees at the store said that headphones were actually their best seller.
Hailey Field, a junior at Weber State said, “It is mostly people who work out who come into buy these headphones.”
Xidis, Field’s co-worker added that the store has anywhere from 15 to 20 people coming in during the day to purchase the $8 headphones.
With winter approaching, the employees also talked about the popularity of the GoPro with snowboarders. Xidis said, “They can attach the GoPro to their helmet and get some really great action shots.”
The campus store offers a variety of GoPro’s and has a display of them out for students to view and learn about before they decide on purchasing.
The campus store offers a payment plan on technology and other items, which allows students to sign up for a payment plan in November and make three to four payments during the next semester. This a great option for students wanting to make a purchase who may not have all the money upfront.
Students will have peace of mind knowing that Safeware, a warranty program, will cover damage that may occur to any electronic device purchased from the campus store. The Safeware warranties start around $100 and go up depending on the price of the electronic device that students want to cover.
Xidis also discussed an option that some students might not know about. The campus store has access to many different suppliers but they don’t have the room to house all their products on site, so the store can order in electronics for students.
Xidis said, “For example if a student saw something at Best Buy that they wanted, we could order that directly into the campus store for them. This is a great option for students to utilize.”
The campus store has something to satisfy the up-to-date techies and the average joe user so be sure to check them out in the Shepherd Union building or online at bookstore.weber.edu.
