CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. - UPEI students returning for the school year are in for a bit of a shock when they go to Mickey's Place for a coffee and realize the kiosk is no longer there.
And, they’ll no longer be going for drinks at The Wave campus pub.
Relocating the coffee shop into the pub, and renaming The Wave to The Fox & Crow are just two of the changes from renovations that began in late May.
The $410,000 renovation was funded with a five-year loan from the university’s board of governors.
The opening is set for the first day of classes on Sept. 5 at 8 a.m.
“Everything is basically ready to go. We just got to put those little details in place – set up the chairs and turn on the coffee machines,” said Will McGuigan, UPEI student union president.
“We’re going to have the coffee going for 8:30 a.m. classes.”
“It will be much more efficient for bar sales if we do a bigger event. As an example, last year with the bar we had, you could only put four bartenders on. There wasn’t enough space. It was too crowded. Now, with the new bar, we’re up to six to eight. So, we hope our sales will go up.”
-Sarah MacEachern
Sarah MacEachern, vice-president of student life, expects students’ reactions to be “a whole lot of shock.”
“Months ago, I couldn’t have imagined what it would look like now. So, being able to see it progress over the summer and, feeling that same shock myself, I think it will be a whole lot of open mouths, dropped jaws,” she said.
Months ago, the student union asked for submissions on what the campus pub should be called. They received 170 submissions. Of the three finalists, The Fox & Crow came out on top after a vote.
McGuigan said moving Mickey’s into the pub was important since the previous space was the size of a “broom closet.”
The new coffee space (still serving Receiver coffee) is beside the rebuilt bar.
MacEachern explained the new bar has more space for more bartenders to work at once.
“It will be much more efficient for bar sales if we do a bigger event. As an example, last year with the bar we had, you could only put four bartenders on. There wasn’t enough space. It was too crowded. Now, with the new bar, we’re up to six to eight. So, we hope our sales will go up,” she said.
In addition, there’s lots of new lighting with electrical plugs for laptops, Wi-Fi, more seating (and different options for seating, such as booths), a long table for group seating, new floors, new drywall on parts of the ceiling and new paint.
The pub currently has 22 employees and plans to hire a few more.
