Filling space in an apartment or dorm for the semester with a budget has students looking for used, temporary furniture that works for the year.
MSU’s Surplus Store and Recycling Center extended their hours during welcome week as part of their move-in sale, and students taking advantage of the extra hours to hunted for bargains.
Many shoppers, like graduate student Lauren Phillips, are looking for cheap furniture.
“A friend of mine just bought a house, and he has nothing in it,” Phillips said. “And he asked for help finding furniture and I furnished my apartment with a lot of stuff from here (the surplus store).”
Math and physics senior Adam Bolton is also on the hunt for furniture.
“I was actually looking for a desk,” Bolton said. “I live in a co-op, so I was looking for a desk for the house.”
Matt deSilva, head of marketing and sales at the MSU Surplus Store and Recycling Center, said furniture tends to be the most popular item year-round, but they do sell a little bit of everything.
“We’ve got household items, from coffee pots to fans and dishes and futons, entertainment centers,” DeSilva said. “Pretty much anything you would find in a small city, that’s what we get, so we’ve got all kinds of stuff — chairs, couches, futons. We sell filing cabinets, vehicles, combines. This summer I sold a train, an actual train. So we get it all.”
MSU Surplus Store and Recycling Center is open Monday, Wednesday and Thursday from noon to 3:30 p.m., Tuesday from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The extension is to handle demand, DeSilva said.
Packaging senior and MSU Surplus Store employee Ross Hunter feels the store has been busier than usual during the move-in sale.
“Usually we only sell on Tuesdays and Fridays, so that gives us time to restock the floor, have everything nice for those two days,” Hunter said. “But it’s been kind of crazy. Internationals (move-in) last week wasn’t too bad, but no, it’s been really busy. It’s been a lot of work, a lot of loads, loading people up and everything.”
Biochemistry sophomore and MSU Surplus Store employee Josh Maleitzke agreed that the sale has been busy, but he thinks the beginning and the end of summer is a much busier time of year.
“A lot of household stuff and most of our futons come from there, leftover desks and stuff,” Maleitzke said. “We get a lot of stuff then.”
Bolton attributed the lack of student traffic at the store to simple ignorance.
“It’s funny, because it’s kind of a secret I think,” Bolton said. “Most people go through their experience here at MSU without even knowing it exists and it’s so big. I heard about it through friends. I think I first heard about it living in the co-ops, and we often come here when we need cheap furniture for the houses that’s of good quality but it’s cheap.”
Phillips said she feels the surplus store is popular among graduate students for similar reasons.
“I feel like a lot of graduate students know about it because everybody is so broke all the time and needs a good deal,” Phillips said.
DeSilva said it’s pretty common for students to be unaware of the store.
“We see that a lot,” deSilva said. “‘Oh, we didn’t know you were here.’ And we’ve got $10 futons. Why are you spending $200?”
Regardless of the MSU Surplus Store and Recycling Center’s popularity, it does a good business all year long.
“It’s always different,” Hunter said.
