The University of Hawaiʻi–West Oʻahu Bookstore welcomed the new year with a new space — larger and more visible than its previous location.
The bookstore is now open 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Mondays through Fridays on the first floor of Campus Center, at the top of the ramp into campus and adjacent to the Dining Hall. The new location at C-172 replaces the former space in C-226.
“We are still here for you as your resource for your campus life needs, only now we are in a prettier space!” said bookstore manager Kory Uramoto-Wong.
The bookstore project started in October 2020. In December 2021, the city Department of Planning and Permitting signed a temporary certificate of occupancy and the bookstore then officially opened on Jan. 3.
“Part of the project also included renovations to the dining room, which should be complete in spring 2022,” said project manager Fenita Long. The current cost of the bookstore and renovations to the dining room is $2.7 million.
Long said the total combined size of the bookstore and bookstore storage is 2,289 square feet, which is about 150 square feet larger than the previous location. (This square footage does not include a new mechanical and electrical/IDF room, which was also built to serve the bookstore.)
“With the new location — at Level 1 of the Campus Center near the entry round-about and across from the parking lot — the bookstore will now be more visible to the campus community,” Long noted.
Customers can enter through the outside walkway at the front of the store (at the top of the main walkway into campus) or through the Dining Hall, which is scheduled to reopen for takeout only starting Jan. 24
Another highlight, added Uramoto-Wong, “Deliveries and shipments to us have been so much easier now that we’re not on the second floor.”
The UH West Oʻahu Bookstore strives to serve the campus community as the one-stop resource for college life and more, Uramoto-Wong said.
“We’ve got your course materials, school supplies, UH swag, and snacks to satisfy your hangry cravings,” she said.
Additionally, the bookstore is still a Village Post Office (VPO) — part of the United States Postal Service’s “Approved Postal Provider” network — where customers can ship USPS flat rate packages, too.
The UH West Oʻahu Bookstore also continues to support online students and distance learners, offering online ordering at the bookstore website at www.bookstore.hawaii.edu/
“One of my biggest initiatives is getting the cost of course materials down by working with faculty in offering their course materials through our Interactive Digital Access Program (IDAP),” noted Uramoto-Wong.
The fee for this is placed on the students’ MyUH financial account and most times is covered by financial aid, depending on when the student adds the class and when financial aid balances are refunded to students, Uramoto-Wong explained.
“But this also supports distance-learning students where they don’t even have to come to campus to purchase their course materials,” she said. “Access is given on the first day of class regardless if the student paid for it yet. This aids in the push for students to have their course materials at the start of school.”
Students have the option to opt out by the opt-out deadline (equal to the last day for a 50% tuition refund) and the charge will be reversed out of their account but the student will lose access to the course materials.
To contact the UH West Oʻahu Bookstore, email uhwobkst@hawaii.edu or call 808-689-2550.