Daily Grind to lose spot in Student Stores after privatization this summer

Students file in and out of a familiar corner of Student Stores, entering the space forlorn and exam-stricken and leaving slightly relieved clutching a dark, corrugated cup well-known to UNC students.

The roughly 20-year presence of The Daily Grind at its Student Stores location will come to an end this summer when Barnes and Noble College Booksellers privatizes UNC Student Stores.

The Daily Grind has known since March 2015 its contract would not be renewed in June, said Associate Vice Chancellor for Campus Enterprises Brad Ives.

“Barnes and Noble College will be arranging for coffee service at the Student Stores when the contract with the Daily Grind expires by its terms,” he said in an email.

“Barnes and Noble College has exciting plans to expand the coffee area to create a vibrant space that is expected to become a central hub for campus activity.”

Daily Grind’s contract was scheduled to expire on June 30, and administrators had previously said the coffee shop might have the chance to negotiate a new contract for the location.

Jane Brown, The Daily Grind’s owner, said former Student Stores manager John Gorsuch had told her in March 2015 she could join other vendors in bidding for the coffee shop’s contract when it ran out in June of this year.

Senior Nikki Gauthreaux, a Daily Grind employee, said she hopes The Daily Grind’s other location in the Health Sciences Library stays open.

“I’ve worked here for a year now, and it’s just so sad because this is one of the only spots on campus that — it has this kind of atmosphere,” Gauthreaux said.

Gauthreaux said she feels for Brown, who said in an email on Monday she had been given very little information by the University with regard to the future of The Daily Grind’s contract.

“I’ve known the owner, Jane, for a while,” Gauthreaux said.

“And she is one of the most deserving, best humans, and the fact that her shop is closed without her knowing it first is so depressing.”

Sophomore Emma Layman said she was sad when she first heard of The Daily Grind’s Student Stores location closing.

“I know a lot of people that work there, and I mean, I love coming here during my breaks just getting a drink,” Layman said.

Layman said she works in a sector of Student Stores that isn’t being privatized — the Print Stop — but she said it has been crazy to see how the other departments are reacting.

She said she thought the privatization proved the University was just trying to make money.

Sophomore Resha Kodali said she liked to study at The Daily Grind and was upset when she heard the news of its closing.

Layman said she would probably go to whatever coffee shop replaces The Daily Grind.

“It’s definitely going to be different because, I don’t know — I just like how The Daily Grind is unique,” she said.

university@dailytarheel.com