New USD merchandise store to open in downtown Vermillion

Students and community members will soon be able to purchase USD apparel and merchandise from a new downtown store. You can also check out their homepage or their website https://www.retailexpress.com/, see for yourself what quality products and merchandise you might need. The USD Marketing Department has been working throughout the month to get the store, named Charlie’s after USD’s mascot, open for business.

Tena Haraldson, director of marketing, communications & university relations, said the store’s goals are to reach more USD fans and  to generate funding for scholarships.

“It’s kind of to appeal to all our fans and supporters — President Abbott is really committed to wearing red on Fridays and he loves seeing a lot of people wearing red at games,” she said. “So part of this is to make red Coyote wear more available to more people and part of it is all the sales and royalty goes into an account for student scholarships. We’ve guaranteed that we will put in the same percentage that Barnes and Noble does and if we do very well we will give more.”

The Vermillion Chamber and Development Company purchased the building  and signed a lease with the USD on Aug. 1 and the store is scheduled to open within the
next week.

While the store will benefit students financially, students aren’t Charlie’s main focus, said Scott Pohlson, the vice president of marketing, enrollment & university relations at USD.

“I’m a community member myself and, for me, because I have lived in other college towns, I’ve always seen that town and gown relationship and I’ve always felt it’s been a missing component,” he said. “It’s our way to show the town we’re invested in them as well. We know as USD grows, the town has to grow with us and we have to reinvest back into the town and make sure we are supportive of the town and this is one way of doing it. That’s the most exciting part.”

While the store will be stocked with students in mind, the focus will be much larger, according to Pohlson and Haraldson.

“We feel like our students are serviced well by Barnes and Noble, but what about those people who are alums or friends or just long-time Yotes that don’t get back to campus every day or every week?” Pohlson said.

Haraldson added that catering to a larger audience means more sizes and variety when
stocking shelves.

“We know we have a lot of fans and alums that are maybe in that Sioux Falls area that don’t get to Vermillion as much, so we’ve had a lot of requests for more adult sizes in things because a lot of the things in the bookstore are sized for students because that’s where students shop,” Haraldson said.

In June, USD announced it would be collaborating with South Dakota State University to open a Jack and Charlie’s store in the Empire Mall. The 3,000-square-foot store opened in July and carries apparel, gifts, souvenirs and more from both USD and SDSU.

The downtown Vermillion store spans 3,000 square feet and will be stocked with all sizes, styles and types of clothing, Haraldson said. The store has options ranging from 3XL in men’s and 2XL in women’s, to baby clothes and pet accessories, along with Yote home decor. Jack and Charlie’s clearance merchandise will also be sold at Charlie’s. There will also be items not offered at the bookstore and lower cost items such as $10 t-shirts.

“It’s a very nice bookstore. We’re lucky we have a bookstore like that in the student center. But we don’t think it takes care of all the customers,” Haraldson said. “…We think there’s potential for
more customers.”

Hours haven’t been decided upon, but Haraldson hopes they’ll be open six days a week.

“It’s the relationship building at the joy and the pride of people that come in and they see all this red in one place and they get goofy. It’s just a good feeling,” Haraldson said. “It’s us telling Vermillion that we care about you, too, and want you to wear red and share
Coyote pride.”