Campus Store moves to McCarthy Center: Second fitness center added

By Kristel Erguiza Staff Writer Framingham State moved its bookstore location to the McCarthy Center, renamed it the Campus Store, and added a second fitness center for students in its place. The location of the former fitness center is now reserved for athletes and is known as the Varsity Fitness Center. According to a Gatepost article from Oct. 10, 2025, “Framingham State changes bookstore owners,” “The Campus Store will focus more on selling apparel, supplies, and self-care products, though they can’t sell food or drinks because Sodexo has that contract.” Annie Shea, the Campus Store Manager, said the Campus Store location did not affect her or her staff because she has only worked at FSU since June, and the move was already in process when she arrived. The Campus Store, formerly the Campus Bookstore, switched bookstore vendors on July 1, 2025 from Follett to eCampus to provide course materials and the University Gear Shop (UGS) for FSU merchandise, according to The Gatepost article. The function of the Campus Store “really hasn’t been impacted with no books,” according to Shea. “The number of people that come into the Campus Store varies day by day, with some days being busier than others,” Shea said. Shea said that the Campus Store has “new merchandise coming in - heavier jackets, youth clothing, mom and dad shirts, grandparent shirts, alumni shirts.” With the bookstore now housed in McCarthy, the University expanded athletic facility offerings in the former space. Tom Kelley, director of Athletics, said that making a new athletic gym created “more opportunities” for varsity athletes and the student body as a whole. The Athletic Department is in the process of tracking how many students use the gym, with the “ultimate goal” being to make student ID cards room specific, according to Kelley. Certain machines, such as a StairMaster and ab-workout machines, are not in the athlete gym, but Kelley said “they can use them upstairs, and that anything outside of the two gyms anybody can use.” Kelley added Bryan McGovern, coordinator of sports performance and building manager, “did an outstanding job of getting the equipment in there that we got in there. But our goal is always to upgrade that room.” According to Robert Totino, chief financial officer and vice president of Finance, Technology and Administration, “We are hearing students loud and clear. One wall was aligned with mirrors recently, a couple of Fridays ago on October 16. We are working with our contractor to come in and put additional sets of mirrors on another portion of another wall. We appreciate any advocacy that students have done.” According to Kelley, there were already plans to create a second athlete-only gym. “That was always the design. As the years went on, we started expanding and added more sports, and fitness became more popular. We're trying to do the best we can to accommodate the entire population of the University,” Kelley said. Totino said since moving to this new model of UGS and eCampus.com, there was a lot of inefficiency on site, when the former bookstore was in the Fitness Center. “There was a lot of space that wasn’t utilized. There were a lot of empty bookshelves that used to be filled with books for classes. And so, what we realized was that they didn’t need that 3,500 square feet anymore. They could be more compact where they are, so now we have this new location,” he said. A decision was made in Spring 2026 that the Campus Store would be moved into the new location, said Totino. The Campus Store now has 1,200 square feet and 100 square feet in the back of the McCarthy Center for storage. “That seems to be the right size for that operation,” said Totino. Formally, the Campus Store in McCarthy was the student Game Room, which has since closed to make room for the store. It has not been relocated. The removal of the Game Room raised concerns from students, said Totino. He added, “A few pieces have gone to different locations, like a foosball table and a remote-control video game have gone to other locations, but a few other amenities like the pool table were so beyond disrepair, and had to be taken apart and removed from campus. “I’ve heard a little bit from the dean of students that there has been a small number of students who would've liked to see the Game Room stay,” according to Totino. There are no concrete plans to create another Game Room in McCarthy Center, he said. However, he said, “As space becomes available and there are requests from students, there’s always an opportunity to have these types of programming come back.” Sophomore elementary education major Annah Manning said the Game Room was fun when it was there. It was a nice place to do homework and chill after class, but it would get crowded and too loud sometimes. “I didn’t find out until the beginning of this year and I was shocked. I wish there was another place like the Game Room,” Manning said. Manning added she is a commuter and would like to see more commuter spaces on campus. Senior fashion major Riley Eagan said the new Varsity Fitness Center is very useful. Eagan is a varsity softball player for Framingham State. “It was very crowded before, but now it’s just for us, and it’s good to have, like, just your team to feel more connected and have that space,” Eagan added. Eagan said there could be another StairMaster needed just for lifts, but “everything we have in the gym, we use pretty consistently.” Freshman environmental science major Lily Ring said it wasn’t fair the Game Room was removed. Ring said she wanted to know if there was another place the Game Room could be put “for people who enjoyed going there with their friends and having their own activities.” Freshman biology major Samaya Evans agreed with Ring. Evans said the current Campus Store feels congested. “There’s a lot going on at once.”