Associated Students UCLA is many things, but utilizing space well isn’t one of them.
ASUCLA, the campus entity that oversees Ackerman Union, is projected to lose nearly $1.3 million this fiscal year because of declining textbook sales and a minimum wage increase. The association plans to improve its e-commerce operations to make up for the subpar textbook and merchandise sales, said ASUCLA Executive Director Robert Williams.
But ASUCLA will need more than increased BearWear sales to cover its losses. The association has faced dwindling returns and rising costs for years, be that from mismanaged storefront space or outmoded merchandise. If ASUCLA really is to turn its financial situation around, it must be prudent with the services it brings in and take a hard look at the ones it retains. That means re-evaluating the space it provides to each of its services.
A visit to the Ackerman A-level floor is enough to see ASUCLA’s suboptimal space utilization.
ASUCLA replaced its A-level arcade in January with Bruin Custom Print, a niche printing service that allows campus members to, among other things, bind loose-leaf textbooks, design T-shirts and print posters. The association’s leaders argued the service was a productive use of the A-level storefront space.
Nine months later, the storefront enjoys several empty white tables, meager attendance and a great deal of empty space.
The numbers tell a similar story. ASUCLA had a net loss of $286 in Bruin Custom Print’s first fiscal year of operations from January through the end of July, said Patrick Healey, apparel and accessories director. It’s reasonable the office’s sales were rocky in its first year, but it’s not as though the service will significantly contribute to this year’s sales, despite its prime real-estate space.
While the arcade preceding Bruin Custom Print did not generate much revenue in comparison, it clearly functioned as a recreational and meeting space for the student body. ASUCLA has the difficult task of balancing revenue-heavy leases with student-friendly resources; unfortunately, Bruin Custom Print doesn’t fulfill much of either.
Healey said Bruin Custom Print earned about $16,800 in revenue for August and September, exceeding ASUCLA’s expectations. But even if the service maintains this momentum, the association would earn only about $100,800 in revenues over the next year – a number quite miniscule compared to ASUCLA’s gross income of about $66 million in the 2016-2017 fiscal year.
[Related: ASUCLA looking to raise revenue at Bruin Custom Print]
And it’s not as though higher-than-expected sales can be entirely attributed to its storefront. Healey said Bruin Custom Print’s primary mode of placing orders is either face-to-face interactions in the store or through meetings at clients’ locations, with follow-ups being done via phone or email. This implies the bulk of the store’s operations and functionality could feasibly be preserved even if relocated to a smaller office, allowing valuable A-level space to be leased out to more profitable enterprises.
It’s clear ASUCLA needs to be more critical of its services and the space it provides to them. Williams said the association will reconsider how space is divided in Ackerman, particularly at the textbook store and in its various event venues. But the misuse of A-level space for Bruin Custom Print is hardly an anomaly: One need only to look at the racks of outmoded books in the lower-level merchandise and textbooks stores to see examples of unworthy fixtures in the student union.
As the association adapts to changing retail trends, it only makes sense to optimize its space as well. After all, ASUCLA already has a tough time convincing us it all comes back to us.