UNC Student Stores holds fifth annual Mammoth Monday

UNC students partake in a multitude of time-honored traditions. John Gorsuch, UNC Student Stores director, hopes that he is fostering one of his own: the Mammoth Monday sale. 

“People have started asking for it. The more you do it, the more of tradition it becomes,” Gorsuch said. “It’s continued to generate more excitement from the campus community each year we do it.”

Student Stores hosted the fifth annual Mammoth Monday sales event this week. 

The sale, touted as the biggest of the year, included 30 percent off of clothing, UNC logo gifts, books and art and school supplies. 

“We’re closed on Black Friday, and Monday has turned into a Cyber Monday tradition, so we started thinking this would be a good thing to do,” he said. “It’s the heat of the season — students, faculty and staff are starting their shopping for Christmas.”

The sales event was advertised by a Facebook event and mailings to UNC faculty and staff, which effectively contacted about 13,000 people, said Gorsuch.

“One of the things we like to do at the Student Stores is promote school spirit,” Gorsuch said. “We like selling to people that are fans of UNC.”

In addition to an appearance by Rameses, campus a cappella groups sang during the sale.

“We pretty much offer an open invitation to a cappella groups on campus,” Gorsuch said. “We usually get three to five each year. They just drop in at random times between classes.”

At the end of each fiscal year, Student Stores assesses its performance and determines how much of its revenue it can allot to student scholarships.

“The better we do (on Mammoth Monday), the better we can continue scholarships,” Gorsuch said. “If our business is good, we can also hire more students, which can also help them pay for college.”

About 200 students are currently employed by Student Stores, he said.

“The name of our store is Student Stores — we’re all about the students, and the money stays here on campus,” he said. “Students do their business at the store, and then everything is kept within the Carolina family.”

Students felt Mammoth Monday provided an excellent chance for UNC fans to acquire all the gear they have wanted, but had perhaps not been able to reasonably afford.

“Knowing that we had a 30 percent off deal — this was a once in a lifetime opportunity to buy the goods I dream of having," said sophomore Steven Deepee. 

Sophomore Patrick Jahn agreed, making note of the sale’s great timing. 

“The holidays are right down the road — 23 days ‘til Christmas — and this was convenient for me,” Jahn said. “Why wouldn’t I just walk right down to the student store and do my holiday shopping?”

Freshman Jamie Gwaltney, who started working for UNC Student Stores this year, described Mammoth Monday in one word: hectic. 

“It was crazy,” she said. “But it was exciting rather than stressful. We were really well-prepared — all the employees were ready.”

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