Last week, owners Gary Poolson and Todd Perrin opened the doors of Campus Convenience, a convenience store that will provide another nearby source of school necessities and other products for the Southeastern community.

This initial opening was what Perrin called a “soft opening,” so any problems that needed to be worked out could be handled before the official grand opening in October. Campus Convenience’s soft opening took place on Wednesday, Sept. 22. It is located at 1002 N. Oak St. behind Capital One Bank, which is in the store area across from campus that includes Grounded Café, Ra Shop and Crazy Pig.  

“I like to walk to campus, and if you’re on the main campus, you have to walk across five lanes of traffic to go to Rende’s (Quick Stop),” said Perrin, a Southeastern alumnus. “And I just decided, that’s a great idea. I should open up a convenience store.”

Campus Convenience caters to college students by selling school products for a reasonable price and offers a 10 percent discount, on certain items, to students with a valid university ID.  

“We have very reasonable prices for a simple reason – we know college kids don’t have a lot of money,” said Perrin. “We’re bringing savings to the customers. There was no other place to go and there was no other competition, and I think that competition is what good business is all about.”

Perrin is no stranger to managing a business. He previously owned a bar in Hammond called Tops N Bottoms Sports Bar, but he moved on from the bar atmosphere.

“I have two small children, and when I got out of the bar business, I was looking for something else to do,” said Perrin.

Campus Convenience occupies the building where The Buzz, which is now on University Avenue, was located before Hurricane Katrina.  

“We remodeled – a lot of painting and a lot of cleaning – and we redid the floors and put in some counters,” said Perrin. “A lot of love went into remodeling that place.”

Campus Convenience sells Scantrons and other school supplies, drinks, food and other products typically found in a convenience store. The store’s low alcohol content permit was approved last week, which will allow for it to carry beer, not hard liquor, for sale.

The official grand opening will take place on Wednesday, Oct. 20, where Hunt Brothers will be offering free pizza and wings all day. Representatives from the Hammond Chamber of Commerce will be present to perform the ribbon cutting.