Temporary Location for College Bookstore

Grinnell College recently purchased the former Gosselink's Hallmark Store at 933 Main St. to serve as the temporary location for the College Bookstore.

Although this location is walkable from campus, the College is exploring options to make it easier for students to visit this off-campus site, as well as campus delivery services for items ordered through the bookstore.

The bookstore — now housed in an addition to the east side of Carnegie Hall at 1210 Park St. — needs to move before the addition is torn down early in the construction of the new Humanities and Social Studies Complex. The complex will consist of new space constructed as an addition to the existing Alumni Recitation Hall and Carnegie Hall buildings, which will be renovated as part of the project.

This summer the bookstore will move into the former Gosselink's Hallmark Store. Although the building is in very good condition, the College plans to make several upgrades, such as constructing accessible restrooms and installing new exterior signage.

"We believe we have secured the best possible temporary location for the bookstore to move to this summer," said John Kalkbrenner, assistant vice president for auxiliary services and economic development.

Also during the summer, the College will combine its downtown Pioneer Bookshop at 823 Fourth Ave. with the bookstore in its new temporary site.

"Consolidating the operations of the College Bookstore and the Pioneer Bookshop," Kalkbrenner added, "will reduce costs because we will be operating one store rather than two at a downtown location that will be as convenient for local residents as the current Pioneer Bookshop."

Eventually, a permanent bookstore will be located in the neighborhood between downtown and campus referred to as the Zone of Confluence.

Before that can happen, however, Grinnell College will need to create an overall plan for the zone, including a new bookstore. At this time, the College is in the early stages of developing plans for the zone.

"As we move forward with developing a comprehensive plan for the Zone of Confluence," Kalkbrenner said, "one of our primary goals will be to identify a prime site for the permanent bookstore."