The Student Store

I ordered two items online from The Student Store. One item arrived with the security sensor still on the item. I tried calling the number on the invoice but my calls went straight to voicemail. My efforts to reach them by email were also futile, as the email was returned marked «undeliverable». I returned the item requesting a full refund. As of this date, have not received my refund.
As for the second item it was never received.
Unfortunately, I will not purchase anything online from The Student Store again. Bring an alumna, I never had any problems ordering online in the past. But this last attempt has been ridiculous!

I’ve only ever ordered stuff online through here, which can be a bit iffy given that their merchandise can change pretty fast, so I would recommend going in in person. The staff is always very kind and accommodating, and usually the sales are good.

VERY EXPENSIVE! U might see many cool staff, but don’t rush, better wait for sales!!!

I like the Student Store’s excellent selection of quality Cal gear. Anything you want to represent your Berkley pride is here: from baby onesies to scarfs.
My only major qualm has to do with one student employee who stalled on helping me checkout to «help» this woman in the AM. It was fairly obvious he was flirting, so the entire exchange (over a dinky umbrella) took about twice as long as it should have been. Sure he put on a fake smile and helped me buy my niece’s onesie eventually, but even his coworker was trying to bring me to his attention which he clearly ignored.
He was the employee working the checkout shift first thing 9 am in the morning on 11÷19÷13. Would otherwise give the student store four stars if it weren’t for his insensitive and superficial customer service.

I bought an alumni license frame for $ 45 here, but had an employee rudely tell me to not open the packaging as if I were stealing it or something (even though it was already open). That almost made me change my mind on the purchase, but whatever — last time coming here.

The Cal Student store has moved just as a heads up. It’s not on campus as of currently.
I had gone to Cal Student store looking for a flyer flag to put up in my classroom. I have acquired a few this summer always around $ 15. Well the «normal» sized flags were priced at $ 28, which is completely ridiculous. I ended up buying a small one because I was not about to pay that much for a piece of felt.
Anyways, the store is really small and is connected to some other store. I don’t really understand it, but I guess its just a place you go for over priced college sweatshirts and flags.

Nice selection of Cal Bear goodies & UCB pride. Though I am not a grad of UCB, I found myself perusing, as I really enjoy university stores. Or maybe just universities, in general.
I was a little surprised at how dated it looked inside, no air and dusty goods shoved into a rather small space — particularly for a university store. Not much beyond apparel to wear at games, but I still found a fair-​priced lounge shirt with a vintage cut & design, women’s softball style and fleece.
I’m wondering if I missed out on another floor or location that has better service and selection? There were no signs or visible entrances to another area beyond the two narrow-​layout floors. It appears I’ll need another visit to discover more.

Cause: Bears!
Even though, I’ve never been to Berkeley as a student, I bought quite a few items for my friends and I.
You can find everything from books, school supplies, home wear, teddy bears, food, apparel.
I like the clothing section, you can spend hours looking for your perfect shirt or hoodie.
It’s a bit pricey but you’ll forget about it when you buy what satisfies you and your close ones!

Your source for officially licensed Cal merchandise.
Some portion of every dollar you spend here goes directly to the ASUC fund to support student groups and activities on campus. Having said that, this place is easily the most expensive place to buy Cal gear in the neighborhood (although it’s usually name-​brand and pretty high-​quality stuff). My advice: Look for the blowout sales at the end of each semester, or take advantage of one of their deals like «5% off for each touchdown scored by the football team.»
If cost is your only concern, check other stores on Bancroft Way and Telegraph Ave. for bargains!

The Cal Student store is RIDICULOUSLY pricey!):
That being said, I love wandering around just checking out stuff, even though the only time I ever buy anything is during Touchdown Mondays. If you’re a new Cal Bear, then congrats! Remember to drop by the Cal Store during Touchdown Mondays, because it’s (I think) 3% off per touchdown? But if you’re in the mood for cheaper Calgear, I’d suggest checking out Bear Essentials on Telegraph– waaay, less expensive stuff!

Clearance rack prices were all
Over $ 50. Not as inexpensive as Stanford for college gear.

Cal merchandise is a bit pricier than Bancroft Clothing company, but their designs tend to be more unique. The latest trend in Cal shirts (at least for women) has been the vintage look. I ended up buying one for around $ 20 or so.
They have any type of Cal souvenir you could imagine and then some. I mean, how many things can you get your alma mater printed on? I thought for sure they would even have Cal condoms, but maybe that would be a different type of store.
There are also school supplies and the like. The day I was there it was really quiet. Like eerily quiet. I asked the young student guy who worked there where all the people are. He looked at me like I should know better and said: «It is the morning after St. Patrick’s Day.»
Oh. That makes sense. After all, it is a college town.

All righty, here we are at the Cal Student Store, The Mother, The Nephew, and I last month. The Nephew has aspirations to come here for his masters in business at his dream university, University of California, Berkeley at the Haas School of Business. The Mother wanted to buy him a Cal souvenir, however, The Nephew is superstitious and is afraid of jinxing his wish to attend. Oh crikey, cultural superstitions. I have faith in his getting in no matter what when the time comes.
We looked at the computer section of this store. I was able to find the dream pink back cover for my iPad2 at this store. I could not believe it, right shade of pink and it coordinates well with my magnetic cover and case. Score! Sweet!
I come here when I can in-​between studying at Doe Library. I have acquired a few souvenirs from here: sweatshirts, t-​shirts, caps, notebooks, and binders. I hear the Big Game between Golden Bear and Cardinal Red will be held here this year on our side of the Bay. Looking forward to the Top Ten Reasons t-​shirt, I got the 2010 version. I also hope to get one of those certain t-​shirts that are only sold at this particular game at Berkeley. (I cannot say what it is, after all this is a family friendly website. I am sure some of you know what t-​shirt I am talking about.)
Yes, I confess I have aspirations as well to come here, I come from a long line of Cal Bears alumni. See you around at Doe Library or on this year’s Cal Day!
Bears Rule! Go Bears!

Walking into the Cal Student Store brought be right back to my college days. Yes, I am a nerd and I love school supplies. No, I don’t want to go back to college. I love looking at the different merchandise. It’s amazing how much crap they can put a school name or logo on. Really, if you go to Cal and attend classes there… everyone around you already knows you go to school there. Is it absolutely necessary to have every piece of clothing, every writing utensil, every notebook/​datebook/​bluebook, every wearable or carryable item branded with the school name? On top of it, the prices are insane. I imagine half of your college debt (or your parent’s debt if you are spoiled) goes to this seemingly essential crap.
I am also floored at the price of textbooks in the Student Store. Even to rent a book is expensive (LOL, back in my undergrad days there was no such thing as «renting» a textbook unless you checked it out of the library, not to mention a digital download of a textbook). I know prices are better off campus or on the internet (that hasn’t changed from my college days)… or if you are lucky you can borrow one from a friend. I was shocked that bluebooks are now greenbooks (a recently started trend for the tree huggers).
Aside from that, I enjoyed the store. Everything was cute and irresistible. I was tempted to walk out with an armload of notebooks, pens and a sweatshirt but I resisted. What would I do with all that crap anyway? I graduated from college years ago.

The Cal student store used to consist of men’s sports jersey and «I hate Stanford» shirts. During my time at Cal, we had Aaron Rogers and all of sudden, Nike and Under Armor came out of the woodwork and the store went through a transformation of carrying every type of shirt, shorts and shoes. Of course, everything is expensive when Futura down the road offers a lot of selection at a lower price. But sometimes you just gotta splurge.

Experiences here are neither great or terrible. The one downside is the staff, which are all jaded undergrads (and a thirty something supervisor) who sort of know what they are doing, but not really.

Observation #1 — Wow, there are a lot of really articulate and well-​written reviews for the bookstore at this university. I mean, it makes sense, but it was just sort of funny to take note of this…
Observation #2 — Most university bookstores are very similar. Tons of clothing, logo’ed planners and pens and Christmas tree ornaments and lariats, tons of textbooks in the basement. This one is no exception.
Observation #3 — You are therefore left with only a few ways to judge a university bookstore with any meaning at all… Location, size, and helpfulness of the staff.
Observation #4 — It’s right off of a main street and main walkway and easy to get to… it’s huge… and the students working there seem to be pretty consistently in a good mood, and are helpful.
Observation #5 — Three years later, and I still miss Cal…

The ASUC Store has changed a lot over the years. The Cal-​branded Office Supplies used to be up front and now you’ll find a nice selection in the basement (along with the textbooks). The bookstore is pretty much the same, while the back end of the main floor is pretty much unused. And consistent with probably every other Campus, «Blue and Gold» clothing and other high margin stuff have exploded space-​wise sideways and upstairs. Sometime I wonder if only parents and alumni can afford it and why they don’t go down to Bancroft Clothing down the street.
But how I love looking around and with a 10% Alumni Discount, Roll On You Bears!

Desk accessories, keychains, and jackets are downstairs. I didn’t want a baseball cap or flip flops, just onesies as a souvenir. I usually get a hoodie but didn’t here for some reason. (I guess there wasn’t one on sale.) If there’s a line at the register go to the cashier in the back or upstairs.
The second floor is full of t-​shirts. This is actually not in the ASUC building but the one next to the Union garage.

Oski Wow-​Wow!
Whiskey Wee-​Wee!
Olee! Muckie-​eye!
Olee! Berkeley-​eye!
California! Wow!
Leaving his boy Sherman behind, Mr. Peabody has to go way, way back in his WABAC machine for Ed’s 700^th review (
). Way before Unilocaling existed. When men were men and reviewing was for sissies who talked like Mr. Belvedere (…or maybe like McLovin in «Superbad»). That’s when I was an undergrad at Berkeley and a lowly sales clerk for most of my years there.
I came back to the old campus yesterday to go see the David Daniels concert at Hertz Hall. It wasn’t the first time, but this was actually the first time I seriously perused the ASUC store since I graduated lo these many years. When dinosaurs ruled the earth. But the funny thing is very little has changed in terms of the layout of the bottom floor of the store. Still the same sweats and T’s. Cal golf balls. Cal mugs. Enough bearware to supply a year’s worth of karaōke nights at the Russian River Resort.
Even the kids looked the same. That was me. Yes, I was the geeky one who prided myself on how well I folded the T-​shirts on the sales table and how I memorized all the price points for the class rings. I was so proud at how quickly I plowed through sales transactions on the ancient cash register with the IBM adding machine noise. I remember I had my first doobie in the backroom. That’s when I started to sell the $ 5.99 pairs of Cal shorts for $ 599 and asked if I could call to validate their credit card limits. Only I kept giggling when I asked.
Oh well. Lilly loved me. She was an older black woman who helped stock the shelves with us young whippersnappers. Lilly must have seen us come and go with the years, and I loved her because she used to bring homemade cookies which we could only eat in the stock room, which was where I had the doobie. Gee, I loved that stock room. Now I see it’s an elaborate office for somebody who must run things there.
The second floor here is all new to me. All the manly stuff is up here. I looked at a sweatshirt we used to sell for $ 9.98 back in the day. It now sells for a whopping $ 48. What price spirit? The times, they are a-​changing. It was fun walking down memory lane here, but Thomas Wolfe is probably right… you can’t go home again. Go Bears!