Starbucks will offer prizes, free samples and live music Wednesday at the official grand opening of the Starbucks located inside the University of Memphis Bookstore.
The festivities run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and students can enter the prize drawings at any time before winners are drawn at 2 p.m. Students do not have to be present at the drawing to claim their prize. Entrants will have a chance to win $100 bookstore gift cards, tickets in the Follett Suite to this Saturday's Memphis football game against Arkansas State, and various other prizes such as a U of M polo shirt.
Guitarist Trey Jewell and the jazz duo of Patrick Hyland and Kaleb Greene will perform live, according to director of auxiliary services Sandra Barksdale, . Hyland and Greene are University of Memphis students, and Jewell is a local guitarist whose music can be found on iTunes.
Bookstore manager Donna Collier said there will be a photo booth where people can have their photo taken with U of M mascot Pouncer from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Author Steve Bradshaw will sign copies of his book "The Skies Roared," and Pamela Denney, a University of Memphis journalism professor, will sign her book "The Food Lovers' Guide to Memphis."
The Starbucks opened a month ago, but the grand opening was put off for a number of reasons.
"We had a soft opening at the beginning of the semester to allow for training of the staff," Barksdale said.
Collier said they wanted to wait until students were comfortable with their classes before the grand opening.
"Our concentration at the beginning of the semester is students and students getting what they need, so we were concentrating on that," Collier said.
While still new to campus, the Starbucks has been popular for students looking for their caffeine fix.
"We're just really excited about this Starbucks, and the students seem to love it," Collier said. "It's very busy all the time and hopefully the lines will continue to move faster, and faster, as everybody gets more comfortable, but we're glad to have it in the store, and we're glad that everybody's enjoying it so much."
Upon opening last month, the Starbucks took the place of the previous bookstore café. Construction on the Starbucks began after the end of the spring semester and was completed during the summer term.
