By Melody Ortiz
The Beach Hut convenience store is now open with Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology after being closed for three years due to the pandemic.
The Beach Shops, Amazon and Canteen, the company that supplies campus vending products, worked together to reopen the Beach Hut. Amazon’s Just Walk Out technology allows students to purchase items without the need of a checkout process.
The purchasing process is simple. Patrons can use their credit cards or phones’ tap-to-pay feature to open the turnstile, grab the items they wish to purchase and “just walk out.”
Arnecia Bryant, director of facility operations and sustainability, announced during the ribbon-cutting ceremony that California State University Long Beach is the first California State University to get a store with the new technology. There are six other colleges in the country with a Just Walk Out option on campus.
Beth Lesen, vice president of student affairs, said the project was an intense and challenging one for such a small store.
“We really needed an option in this part of the campus for students and faculty and staff who couldn’t afford to necessarily take an hour out of their day to go across the campus to get food,” Lesen said.
The Beach Hut is located to the left of the library on the upper campus. The store is open Monday through Thursday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., Friday from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
“While the hours of operation might be limited at this moment, the idea is that this will be a late-night and weekend option for the campus in terms of food service that we don’t historically have a chance to offer,” Lesen said.
Margie Ramirez, associate director of retail dining services, said the crew from the Caffeine Lab also takes care of Beach Hut.
“We do an opening check, a mid-check and a pre-closing check,” Ramirez said. Ramirez said that when the hours eventually extend, Canteen may deliver more than just once a week to keep it stocked throughout the nights.
Associated Student, Inc. Executive Director Miles Nevin said there are about 30 cameras in the small shop. The cameras are used to sense when and by who an item is picked up. Nevin tested the system before the store’s opening to catch any potential errors.
“I went in, and I just picked a bunch of things, and I put them back and then I picked up something else, and then I left,” Nevin said. “I looked at my receipt later and it was perfect.”
Since the store has been opened, many people have walked in, taken a look around and walked out. Danielle Romero, an anthropology major at CSULB, said she hadn’t even known about the store opening, but thought the idea was perfect and was looking forward to the extended hours.
“I have a late class and I hate that everything is closed,” Romero said. “I just need a snack and coffee to keep me awake during my long drive home.”
Long Beach State President Jane Close Conoley said she was excited to try the new technology.
“It’s not the complete solution, obviously, but I think they really listened to what the students and faculty and staff were saying about the problem we had,” Conoley said.
