T&B Naturally Cafe (T&B), SRU’s coffee shop located inside of Bailey Library, will be closed indefinitely for the fall semester in conjunction with ongoing renovations to the library.
Mark Lisowski, resident director of AVI Dining, said that the temporary closure is unavoidable.
“There is a construction project and [T&B] will not be open,” Lisowski said. “AVI has nothing to do with the construction. In this case, this was a university initiative, the closing has nothing to do with AVI or AVI’s timetable, it’s based on the contracting within the university and the contractors used by the university”
Rocco Vasconi, a student barista at T&B and SRU senior, said he has mixed feelings about the temporary closing.
“Well, that’s my home, that’s where I started my college career,” Vasconi said on his feelings on the temporary closing
Vasconi, who also works at the Starbucks located inside the Smith Student Center believes that it is inevitable that Starbucks, being the only other coffee shop on campus, will get busier.
“We will be more busy, I know [we] will be,” Vasconi said.
Despite his concerns, Vasconi is excited about the eventual reopening.
“It’s definitely going to be weird to not return this fall, but I’m excited for what the spring has in stock for us because I heard it’s going to be great,” he said.
Scott Albert, assistant vice president of Facilities & Planning said that while he expects the library renovations to be over by December, the closure of T&B will not necessarily extend that far, but ultimately the timing is up to the external contractors. At the latest, Albert said, T&B will reopen in the spring.
Albert also confirmed that T&B won’t be missing out on the Bailey renovations
“That [front] wall will moving out…. to increase the size of T&B,” Albert said, so students may be able to expect some aesthetic changes to the coffee shop as well as additional equipment that may come with a larger selection of options available at the popular coffee shop.
