The Starbucks tucked inside the University of Memphis Bookstore is about to go dark for nearly three months, and the university is putting up $290,000 of its own money to help pay for the work behind the shutdown. The coffee shop closes on Oct. 26 and won't reopen until Jan. 19, the first day of the spring semester, leaving students without one of their go-to caffeine stops through all of winter break.
A Shared Space Gets a Shared Price Tag
The closure is part of a larger $995,000 renovation of the bookstore and its attached Starbucks, which operate as one facility run by the bookstore, according to The Daily Helmsman. The university's $290,000 share covers roughly 29% of the total project cost, with the retail bookstore section getting its upgrades first before the Starbucks side shuts down later this month, the student paper reports.
Per the Helmsman's reporting, the $290,000 draws from the university's auxiliary reserves, including Renewals and Replacements funds.
Bookstore and Dining Operations
The University of Memphis Bookstore handles academic course materials through a partnership with Barnes & Noble College, which operates the store's Adoption and Insight Portal that faculty use to coordinate textbooks for their classes. Starbucks, meanwhile, is operated by the bookstore as part of the broader retail space, while campus dining runs through the university's separate 15-year contract with Chartwells Higher Education.
Chartwells' 15-year agreement followed Aramark Educational Services' 30-year run on campus, as Memphis Business Journal reported at the time. Chartwells took over dining operations under that agreement. Chartwells has since folded in Memphis staples like Gibson's Donuts and local food trucks that accept student Dining Dollars, a move the Memphis Flyer noted was a deliberate push by university leadership to route dining spending toward Mid-South businesses.
Part of a Bigger Dining Overhaul
The bookstore project is the latest piece of a campus-wide dining modernization tied to that 15-year Chartwells agreement. Tiger Den, the dining hall inside the Jones Cafeteria building, finished its own renovation on Aug. 30 after construction began May 8, delivering expanded seating, improved traffic flow, more food options and a more welcoming gathering space for students, per the Helmsman. Unlike the bookstore project, Tiger Den's upgrade was entirely vendor-funded under the initial Chartwells contract, with no university money involved. The university's 2021 main campus master plan had flagged older buildings like Jones Cafeteria as top priorities for structural upgrades.
The company's footprint extends well beyond Memphis — Chartwells manages foodservice at more than 320 colleges and universities nationwide under parent company Compass Group North America, according to Food On Demand, as cited by Hoodline.
Looking ahead, Chartwells is partnering with the university's School of Hospitality on a class project to develop and pitch a new dining brand concept, with plans to put finalists to a student vote in the spring, per the Helmsman's reporting. The university says it isn't renovating all its dining spots at once, so other campus locations will remain available while students adjust their routines around the Starbucks closure. The broader push to modernize technology, expand food choices and update seating areas comes as the university pursues other major capital projects, including a $226.5 million overhaul of Simmons Bank Liberty Stadium set to wrap before the 2026 football season.
