The closing of a Dining Services convenience store has left a vacated spot in Spencer Hall, which leads several campus groups to discuss ideas for what to do with the extra space.

The area formerly housed Jax Snax, or more commonly known as the Spencer Convenience Store.

JoLee Frederiksen, general manager of Dining Services, said Jax Snax shut down over winter break due to the low traffic counts over the last several years. The store sold a large amount of items including bottled beverages, snacks, frozen meals and a selection of health and beauty items.

Danielle Schmitz, a sophomore early childhood education major who lives in Spencer Hall, is sad to see Jax Snax go since she frequently visited the store.

“Yes, it was a great place to get food. Now I have to walk across campus to get only one thing. I actually notice that I no longer buy groceries on campus as much as I used to,” Schmitz said.

She now decides to take her business to other places, such as Wal-Mart while she is out running other errands. The lack of Jax Snax in her residence hall has been somewhat of an inconvenience for Schmitz.

“I used the Spencer C-store a lot actually. It was always a great place to get a quick little snack or milk. I would probably have used it more if the store was open later,” Schmitz said. “There was always times I wanted to go get something, but every time I went it was closed.”

When Jax Snax was open, the store hours were noon to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday and noon to 3 p.m. on Fridays.

Tara Buss, a junior advertising/ public relations major who lived in Spencer Hall last year, also thought that the Jax Snax’ hours were not as suitable as they could be. Even so, she doesn’t think the loss of Jax Snax will have real effect on the greater student population.

“I don’t think [the closing of Jax Snax] would be a huge deal, I never saw people in there and it wasn’t really open at convenient times,” Buss said.

While some  students might not be too thrilled with the shutdown of the convenience store, they now have the opportunity to come up with ideas for what to do with the space.

Jeff Hale, director of residential life, wants to hear from students what they would like to see in the vacant space.

“I’m certainly open to students’ ideas for some sort of retail outlet… if it’s a great viable idea,” he said.

Hale, along with the Residence Hall Association and the University Food Service Advisory Council are working together to create ideas that could potentially fill this space.

Each of these groups is interested in hearing students’ ideas and as of right now it is “simply conversation starters to tap creative juices of students,” Hale said.

Schmitz has some ideas of her own for the space that she thinks would benefit a majority of students.

“I think it would be cool if they made the space into a health/organic food store. I know there is a lot of people that complain how campus doesn’t have a lot of health options,” Schmitz said. “The space would be a great place where students could buy meat from the meat lab, fruit, veggies, gluten-free and organic options.”

Hale finds that the ideas right now range anywhere from bike shops to a skateboard shop. The idea of a hair salon was also thrown into the mix. 

“I think whatever we choose will contribute to the quality of life on campus and become another amenity students can embrace,” Hale said.

At this time, Aramark has no plans to put in another operation in the vacated space in Spencer Hall. This gives students the opportunity to provide Residential Life, RHA and UFSAC some ideas of their own.

Some students, like Schmitz, just hope it stays a space that can be utilized by students.

“SDSU will probably make the space into an office,” Schmitz said. “It seems like they always get rid of food places and make it into an office. This school needs more food places. I feel like I spend most of my time at school waiting in food lines.”