The University Bookstore has seen a 10 percent sales increase since the store reopened in late September after renovations.

Mitch Coe, bookstore manager, said that sales for the store, excluding computer sales, have increased 10 percent compared to last year at this time.

“Most of the increase goes back into the bookstore to cover increasing expenses,” said Ted Hart, university union assistant director. “The remainder goes back to the Union to offset the increasing operations costs of the building.”

Bookstore sales have been steadily increasing over the years, but Coe said this year’s increase was slightly more than usual. He attributes the flux in sales to the remodeling.

“Most of it is due to the fact we have more of a variety of merchandise available,” he said. “We have been able to expand what we offer and be more space efficent.”

Renovations include new light fixtures, replaced fixtures for clothing products. An extra dressing room has also been added and the cash registers were moved to open up the front of the store. The store can now hold about 20 percent more merchandise than before the remodeling.

“We wanted to update the look of the store and make it more comfortable,” Coe said. “Everyone thought the store expanded, but it didn’t.”

Steve Honn, merchandising representative for Cotten Express, which provides the bookstore with most of its clothing items, said his product lines’ sales at the bookstore have had “huge sales compared to last year.”

Honn said more support for universities overall after Sept. 11 can be one factor to contribute to the sales increase. However, the store is “a lot more shoppable ” now and offers more clothing variety than most university stores, he said.

Travis Ivanoff, a senior zoology major, said he thought the bookstore was much nicer, more modern and a more comfortable environment to shop in.

“People seem to enjoy coming to the bookstore more because its a lot nicer,” said Angela Geisler, a sophmore psychology major, who has been a bookstore employee for over a year.

Coe said he hopes the opening of the food court will also bring in more business, attracting more people to the building and attracting more causal shoppers.

“We are still trying to find the best way to organize the store and hopefully we are getting better,” he said.