The 49er Shops has served the Long Beach State community since 1953, marking this year as the 70th anniversary since the nonprofit service program came to campus.
The 49er Shops provide services for students, such as ID cards, the bookstore, The Nugget Grill & Pup, the Outpost and campus convenient stores. Rosa Hernandez, director of marketing and communications, said the 49er Shops has grown over the last 70 years, with one of their most recent achievements being their partnership with Amazon.
What has always stayed the same, Hernandez said, is the mission and vision of the 49er Shops, which is to benefit students in the most affordable way possible while maintaining a family-like environment.
“It’s never been about just get the books and be done. The meetings held around these tables are all about giving students options for better affordability,” Hernandez said.
As a nonprofit organization, Hernandez said many people were not aware that the 49er Shops are self-funded with no student fees. All proceeds made from the 49er Shops go right back into the school for the benefit of CSULB students.
“Everything that we make goes back to the campus and everything we do, like our vendor relationships, have to contribute to the university as well,” Hernandez said.
Hernandez said the most important part of the 49er Shops is the bookstore.
The bookstore sells trendy CSULB accessories and also provide student ID services, textbook sales and grad fairs. Hernandez said that, out of the 23 CSU campuses, CSULB is one of the last operating bookstores, due to the fact that most bookstores are solely online.
The 49er Shops also provide student jobs, where students make up 300 out of the total 400 employees. Hernandez said the goal was to teach students the basics of business and that students were all “leaders in the making.” Student employee opinions and ideas are taken into consideration by management, which provides a direct connection from student to staff.
The 49er Shops consider student demographics when making decisions that will affect them and use student surveys to better understand the students. The surveys help the shops to give students options regarding many things such as affordability.
“We look at all of that, how many students are on campus, where they’re coming from and what support they need,” Hernandez said.
As an employee for the 49er Shops for 15 years, Hernandez said change is always happening. In the future, staff is hoping that one day students can order food and have it delivered to them while in class.
She said one of the best things about working for the nonprofit was the constant innovation and attempts to make things more convenient, affordable and modern.
Hernandez said the 49er Shops are constantly looking for ways to help students.
“Could students have affordable housing here? What about faculty or staff? That’s probably the evolution, but we would evolve with the campus,” Hernandez said.