The grand opening of Starbucks in the Glen Mor Market will occur in July, more than 10 months after the opening of the building. Construction is currently taking place within the market to build the Starbucks, with the build-out of the space costing approximately $350,000, according to Dining Executive Director Cheryl Gardner.

According to Glen Mor Market Manager Cedric Martin, construction was expected to be completed during April or May. This was already a delay, seeing as that the opening was planned for December. Part of the delay was caused by problems regarding the chain’s contract, according to Gardner.

“It took a bit of time to negotiate the Starbucks contract — it is actually a two-campus contract with UCR joining forces with UCSD to craft the agreement.  We weren’t allowed to start any construction or development work in the location until the initial Glen Mor construction team was finished (per our contract), which took three months longer than anticipated,” Gardner explained.

According to Gardner, Starbucks was chosen due to the popularity of commercial chains on campus. “During the design we decided to turn it into a Starbucks based on how well branded concepts do on our campus — they are extremely popular. This is obvious in the amount of business we see at Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, Subway and Panda,” Gardner explained.

While there are multiple Starbucks stores close to campus on Blaine and University, in addition to a Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf on campus, Gardner doubts that it will negatively affect either chain on campus. “Because coffee brands do have such a loyal customer base and often appeal to different demographics, we feel that all the different brands can harmoniously function on our campus without negatively impacting one another long-term,” Gardner stated.

“We are highly strategic about where we place concepts and restaurants on the campus because of this and because they can cannibalize one another. What we hope to avoid is building a new facility that just pulls a group of customers away from an existing restaurant, or group of restaurants, as we need new customers to sustain the financial model,” Gardner further explained.

While dining officials anticipate its success, some students, such as third-year English major Jesse Altamoreno, feel that the Glen Mor location provides an inconvenience. “Living in Bannockburn, the closer Starbucks is the one by the UV, going all the way to Glen Mor just takes too much effort,” Altamoreno explained.

According to both Gardner and Martin, dining services plans on hiring approximately 40-60 students to work the facility. During the summer, the store is expected to be open between 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. from Monday to Sunday, and 6 a.m. to 2 a.m. during the school year on the same days.