Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon Portland Community College

This content was published: January 29, 2016. Phone numbers, email addresses, and other information may have changed.

PCC Bookstore open for business at new location within spacious confines of Rock Creek’s Building 5

Photos and Story by

IMG_4376

They looked liked ants following a sugar trail between Buildings 9 and 5 on the Rock Creek Campus. The cargo of the dedicated staff of the PCC Bookstore was not crumbs off the picnic table, but thousands of items that make a bookstore a bookstore.

The bookstore move out of Building 9 and into the spacious 62,000-square-foot addition of Building 5 was intentionally delayed to give students the opportunity to purchase books and supplies before the start of winter term. With the undaunted enthusiasm of students and bookstore staff, the doors opened officially Jan. 25.

“We love this space,” said Jennifer Reynolds, bookstore supervisor. “Compared to the former location, this space has more natural light and is more open and more inviting. The biggest difference between the two locations is that students went to Building 9 to do business-related tasks for registration, financial aid and more, but Building 5 is the ‘party’ building. Students come here to eat, study, hang out and relax.”

Linda Ness, bookstore operations assistant, added, “The energy in this new space is different and over time, we expect to increase foot traffic as we add inventory. We are also excited about the level of service our staff is providing in this new location.”

If the most important thing in real estate is location, the same can be said about the expected success of the new bookstore. It shares the first floor of Building 5 with Food Service, ASPCC, The Queer Resource Center, gym, the Information Desk and the café, which specializes in coffee, grab-and-go lunch selections and sweet treats. This building and other construction projects around PCC are part of a capital improvement bond passed by voters in 2008, earmarking about $63 million in construction work at Rock Creek.

All PCC students, faculty and staff are invited to the Building 5 grand opening from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Wednesday, March 2.