Amazon@TheBeach opened its door for the first time Tuesday at Cal State Long Beach.
Students, staff, faculty and reporters gathered shortly before 11 a.m to see what has been behind all the construction for the past couple of months.
“The 49er Shops partnered with Amazon to bring Amazon@TheBeach to CSULB to offer students, staff, faculty, and community [members] a convenient place to pick up and return Amazon orders,” said Kierstin Stickney, director of marketing and communications of the 49er Shops.
Using Amazon@TheBeach, students, staff and faculty can order books, supplies and anything else off of Amazon and pick it up in lockers on the south side of the University Bookstore. With Amazon Prime and Amazon Student, orders placed before noon can be picked up the same day.
According to the 49er Shops CEO and General Manager Don Penrod, two years ago General Manager of Amazon on Campus Jon Alexander met with him to ask if CSULB would be interested in having Amazon on the CSULB campus.
“[Amazon@TheBeach] is a great partnership, [it has] lots of exposure, [they are] a great business partner who can do things that we could never dream we could do on our own,” Penrod said.
Amazon on Campus is the division of Amazon behind the on-campus pick up and return lockers.
Students are able to try Amazon Student free for six months, before locking into the $49 per year agreement. All that is needed to register is a CSULB email address.
“[Having Amazon@TheBeach] was important to us, it made sense to us that [Amazon on Campus and CSULB] had the same idea and desire to offer this new system to students,”said Deborah Bass, a spokesperson for Amazon.
Amazon on Campus built their first on-campus lockers in February 2015 at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, but the company had been working on this idea for the last two years when Alexander first came to Penrod — it took a little longer than expected. Bass said, the reason behind that was because they had to figure out space and figure out the perfect location for the students, just like this location.
“Amazon has really changed the landscape of retail and [has] really rid the cost of many items down by making things so affordable,” Penrod said.
Most college students are on a budget, trying to find the cheapest supplies and books for the new semester — Amazon is usually the easy way out for students, especially when they can save a ton of money.
“It’s super helpful, I get most of [my textbooks from Amazon] because it’s usually cheaper,” said junior psychology major Valerie Watts. “It’s neat because one, it’s Amazon on Campus and that’s not something you hear everyday and two, it’s a really cool partnership and I feel it can be expanded into really great things on campus.”
The Amazon lockers are located adjacent to the University Bookstore, next to Lot 5. Amazon@The Beach will operate Friday 9 a.m. – 9 p.m. and Saturday through Sunday 12 – 9 p.m.