UStore sale goes awry with markdown mistakes

By Kylie Jones, Deputy Sports Editor

Towson University’s UStore was slated to open last Friday, with many people gathering before opening to capitalize on an expected 80% discount on nearly the entire store. But before it opened, a UStore employee notified the crowd that the sale was canceled due to an error by the store.

The university store is in transition from being run in-house by Towson, to being managed by outside contractor Follet Higher Education, which manages over a thousand university retail stores. To clear old inventory before the official take over of Follett in March, the store has offered numerous merchandise sales. 

None of them, however, quite caught the buzz of campus like the 80% off discount event that started last Wednesday. All items except textbooks, supplies and pantry items were included in this sale, which drew lines that wrapped to the back of the store on Thursday.

With the store set to reopen on Friday at 9 a.m., customers once again lined up, hoping to take advantage of the markdowns. It wasn’t until a UStore employee addressed the crowd after the store was set to open that they learned that the discounts were no longer available.

“What we need to do is we actually need to go in and fix everything so that only the things that should be on sale are on sale,” a UStore employee said to the crowd in a video The Towerlight obtained. “However, that’s going to take some time, so I do apologize.”

Much of the crowd dispersed following this announcement while the store’s employees began stripping sale posters from the windows and displays inside.

The UStore employee who addressed the crowd said that those who were able to shop the markdowns were lucky, as not all items were intended to receive the same discount. 

“We were literally informed of this at 8:45 so, like a half hour ago,” the employee said. “We’re trying to get all the signs down. I do apologize for the inconvenience but it’s just a rough situation.” 

Store employees declined to further comment on the situation. 

Towson University spokesperson Jamie Abell said the UStore used Friday to look over inventory and that the 80% sale was only for Wednesday and Thursday.

“The Wednesday and Thursday pop-up sale was a huge success in clearing inventory, but it was a pop-up,” Abell said. “There will be more sales announced in the coming weeks as we transition.” 

The University store remains open to the public and continues to operate at its usual business hours during the transition to Follett.