Speaking of inappropriate paraphernalia...

[Senusret I]

Originally Posted by jitterbug13

I want to share something that happened to me yesterday that made me sad. I also want to see if anyone else has experienced this.

I went to a para store in another part of the state (DSTRen knows which store I'm talking about). When I started going there almost ten years ago (when I had just joined OPA) there would be tons of stuff there and it would not be common for me to spend more than $100 there. I even when there a few months after I crossed Delta.

A friend and I drove up there yesterday. I was shocked to see how much of their inventory has gone down. The store used to be full of stuff and it wasn't the case anymore. One of the owner's husbands told us that a lot of their suppliers have gone out of business because the fraternities and sororities have been clamping down on the vendors. Just about everything I have bought from this store has been of the best quality and they had unique items that a lot of people didn't have ( I try to get stuff that a lot of people don't have).

Have any of you seen this happen in the greek stores you visited? I hate to see this happen to good stores that have had good customer service and merchandise.

I have been to three Greek stores in my life and two college stores with extensive Greek sections.

1. The Guild in DC...... they have never had a great selection of pre-made stuff, but I have never had a problem with their made-to-order items. They once closed for a few months and moved across the street to a smaller, but nicer store. I do not believe they have done down much in inventory, but the manager did tell me that they stopped making certain items because of the high overhead (sweaters, for example.)

2. The University Shop in College Park, MD -- they are great for pre-made stuff. In the years I have supported them, they seem to be doing fine. Not my number one choice for pre-made stuff, BUT I can say this... if you've ever been annoyed that the "white" sororities have better pre-made stuff, the University Shop will erase that. Everything that Tri-Delt has, DST will have.

3. Forgot the name of the Greek store in Columbus, OH (University Spirit?) but they were really good -- on the same level as #2.

4. Howard University Bookstore -- far better than the Guild for pre-made stuff, but ONLY carries NPHC stuff, which is silly because APO, GSS, KKPsi, TBS, SAI, and PMA are also on the yard in large numbers.

5. Went to a Greek store in Athens, OH that I wasn't feeling at all.

All in all, I don't notice the actual stores declining in quality or inventory -- but I do see a LOT of online vendors disappearing.

[Angel11E01]

Originally Posted by Senusret I

I have been to three Greek stores in my life and two college stores with extensive Greek sections.

1. The Guild in DC...... they have never had a great selection of pre-made stuff, but I have never had a problem with their made-to-order items. They once closed for a few months and moved across the street to a smaller, but nicer store. I do not believe they have done down much in inventory, but the manager did tell me that they stopped making certain items because of the high overhead (sweaters, for example.)

2. The University Shop in College Park, MD -- they are great for pre-made stuff. In the years I have supported them, they seem to be doing fine. Not my number one choice for pre-made stuff, BUT I can say this... if you've ever been annoyed that the "white" sororities have better pre-made stuff, the University Shop will erase that. Everything that Tri-Delt has, DST will have.

3. Forgot the name of the Greek store in Columbus, OH (University Spirit?) but they were really good -- on the same level as #2.

4. Howard University Bookstore -- far better than the Guild for pre-made stuff, but ONLY carries NPHC stuff, which is silly because APO, GSS, KKPsi, TBS, SAI, and PMA are also on the yard in large numbers.

5. Went to a Greek store in Athens, OH that I wasn't feeling at all.

All in all, I don't notice the actual stores declining in quality or inventory -- but I do see a LOT of online vendors disappearing.

Sheedy,

The store you're talking about in Columbus is Spirit Concepts. I was sad to find out that the store had closed. I hadn't purchased nalia in a minute, and thought I was going to make a come up. Not so much.

I no longer live there, so I don't know if the store moved, or just went out of business. I can't imagine that it would be out of business, given that when I was on the yard, the D9 at OSU pretty much used that store exclusively.

[KAPital PHINUst]

Originally Posted by Angel11E01

The store you're talking about in Columbus is Spirit Concepts. I was sad to find out that the store had closed. I hadn't purchased nalia in a minute, and thought I was going to make a come up. Not so much.

I no longer live there, so I don't know if the store moved, or just went out of business. I can't imagine that it would be out of business, given that when I was on the yard, the D9 at OSU pretty much used that store exclusively.

Angel,

As someone here indicated, Spirit Concepts moved to Westerville around the fall of 2006. I mean WAY OUT in the boonies Westerville (near State Route 3 and Maxtown Rd), about 3 miles east of the Polaris Mall.

A little background as to why. I spoke with Bob the owner, and he said that it was because the owner of the building he was leasing got an offer from Fifth Third Bank offering him so much money to lease the space occupied by SC. The building owner asked Bob if he could beat Fifth Third's rent offer. Bob said no, so SC got "evicted". So essentially SC got priced out of their current location.

The new location is nothing like the old one. Basically it is located at an industrial strip mall, with 1/3 of the space available, and that really isn't retail oriented like the old location, so you won't see too much out for display. Personally, I am interested in buying more nalia from him, but driving 15 miles out of the way to do is really isn't enough of a motivating factor, so I am saving my energy for when I really really want to buy something.

[BLUPERFECTION03]

Originally Posted by Senusret I

I have been to three Greek stores in my life and two college stores with extensive Greek sections.

1. The Guild in DC...... they have never had a great selection of pre-made stuff, but I have never had a problem with their made-to-order items. They once closed for a few months and moved across the street to a smaller, but nicer store. I do not believe they have done down much in inventory, but the manager did tell me that they stopped making certain items because of the high overhead (sweaters, for example.)

2. The University Shop in College Park, MD -- they are great for pre-made stuff. In the years I have supported them, they seem to be doing fine. Not my number one choice for pre-made stuff, BUT I can say this... if you've ever been annoyed that the "white" sororities have better pre-made stuff, the University Shop will erase that. Everything that Tri-Delt has, DST will have.

3. Forgot the name of the Greek store in Columbus, OH (University Spirit?) but they were really good -- on the same level as #2.

4. Howard University Bookstore -- far better than the Guild for pre-made stuff, but ONLY carries NPHC stuff, which is silly because APO, GSS, KKPsi, TBS, SAI, and PMA are also on the yard in large numbers.

5. Went to a Greek store in Athens, OH that I wasn't feeling at all.

All in all, I don't notice the actual stores declining in quality or inventory -- but I do see a LOT of online vendors disappearing.

Dang you are taking it back with the Guild...I got a Zeta backpack from there in '05 very durable I only seen a one Soror (from NC) that had that backpack.

I also like 3 Sisters in Raleigh, NC they had a quality nalia..I got a lot of stuff from them after I crossed. There was another Greek Store in Durham ( I can't remember the name but they were near Central Univ.) they had stuff mainly for D9 alot of pre-made goodies.

The Univerisity Shop across the street from George Mason in the strip mall is def. lacking for D9!

[jitterbug13]

One thing I liked about the store was that their made to order stuff was quality and they had a good selection on all of the greeks.

I've noticed that a lot of the online vendors have been disappearing too. There would be something that I want to get and when I finally get around to it, the place has gone out of business.

[Senusret I]

^^^ That has happened to me before.

How about plain wooden paddles that used to be 15 bucks are now 30?

I make more and more stuff on my own rather than buying it. I would be a beast if I could sew.

[Senusret I]

http://ohiostatespiritconcepts.com/ That site says they moved to Westerville.... I have no idea where that is, but that's a mess!

[FeeFee]

Rashid, when I went to The Guild back in '06, I managed to find some pretty good AKA para.

[Senusret I]

Originally Posted by FeeFee

Rashid, when I went to The Guild back in '06, I managed to find some pretty good AKA para.

Do you remember what you got? Sometimes I forgot that they have good stuff in the cases.

[ladygreek]

Originally Posted by Senusret I

http://ohiostatespiritconcepts.com/ That site says they moved to Westerville.... I have no idea where that is, but that's a mess!

Westerville is a suburb of Columbus.

[jitterbug13]

I did find the greek chairs. Just now need to give the info to my mom.

[nikki1920]

OMG, YES it is!! There is NOTHING for us in there, but they have a lot of cute things for other orgs that NPCHers would like. I always make sure to tell the manager that I won't be shopping there because there is no NPHC stuff.

I know the store you are talking about in Durham, but cant think of the name of it. Every org used to have a shirt that members could sign and I soooo wanted to sign the Zeta one, lol!

[Still BLUTANG]

Originally Posted by nikki1920

OMG, YES it is!! There is NOTHING for us in there, but they have a lot of cute things for other orgs that NPCHers would like. I always make sure to tell the manager that I won't be shopping there because there is no NPHC stuff.

I know the store you are talking about in Durham, but cant think of the name of it. Every org used to have a shirt that members could sign and I soooo wanted to sign the Zeta one, lol!

y'all are talking about Special Tee's!!!!

i loved that store. they had a shirt for all the orgs. Someone stole the KKY / TBS shirt though. LOL. good times. i'm not sure if they're still open now. the last time i got some stuff (03? 04?) there was a shop owned by a Sigma in the shopping center closest to NCCU campus but that has closed down.

if you're in NC check out Subject to Change, owned by a Central grad.

[jitterbug13]

I think those were the two stores in NC my friend was talking about yesterday. He laughed at me because I rode two and a half hours to buy para and all I got was a hat---for him.

[neosoul]

there's a store in Northern VA? gosh... and they have NOTHING?

there really SHOULD be a plethora of perry stores in the DMV area