North Texas Daily

The UNT Mainframe, a store that sold Apple and other technology products, will close on Jan. 31 after it “wasn’t meeting expectations,” said Steve Meehin, associate director for Union retail, marketing and assessment.

The store, which is housed in the Union across from the Barnes and Noble and next to the convenience store, made the announcement it was closing on Twitter with a store closing sale.

“The Mainframe has been on campus for about four-and-a-half years,” Meehin said. “It was decided to close the store late last semester.”

Meehin said that while the store had experienced growth over the years, it still wasn’t meeting expectations despite their efforts.

“Apple are terrific products, and wildly popular on campus — but more recently, there is tremendous competition in the retail world for these products,” Meehin said. “It’s hard to compete, especially with the convenience of online retailers that also offer student discounts.”

Lance Dollarhide, a UNT alumnus, has worked for the Mainframe since 2016. He said he found out from his boss the store was going to close about a month ago.

“We just don’t get enough business,” Dollarhide said when asked if he was given a reason for the store closing.

He said he is still looking for a new job.

The remaining stock in the store is discounted to 50 percent off normal retail prices. Jordan Collard.

“My boss has helped a little bit, trying to suggest jobs that are on Handshake right now,” Dollarhide said. “But since I am graduated already, I still have to get a job that’s not [a] student job.”

Cole Dyson is a marketing senior who serves as the Apple campus representative for the university, meaning he does not work for the Mainframe but for Apple itself. He said he found out about two weeks ago that the store was going to close.

“I found out actually through a Facebook post,” Dyson said. “I’m not technically part of the university so I was kind of one of the last ones to know.”

Dyson said it was communicated to him by his boss at Apple that revenue was one of the reasons for the store closing.

“The biggest reason is that the store itself wasn’t able to bring in enough revenue compared to the other stores [and] restaurants in the University Union,” he said. “Unfortunately, even though we’re able to offer things that students need, it just wasn’t filling up enough of a necessity in the Union’s budget.”

UNT alumnus Jonathan Guadian, 24, worked to put the Mainframe together when it was getting ready to open. He said he was not surprised it was closing because he said when he was a student here “it always seemed empty or overlooked.”

“I thought the idea was cool, but in reality Apple products are really expensive,” Guadian said. “It didn’t seem like such a good idea setting one up at a university where most of the population work part-time jobs to afford to go to school and a cost of living.”

As for the Mainframe’s physical location, Meehin said that while discussions are happening, no definitive plans have been made about what should go there next.

“Students were a huge part of planning this facility — we always value student input,” Meehin said. “If we can, we will gladly get student input on what comes next.”

Featured Image: The Mainframe, located next to the Corner Store on the first floor of the University Union, is set to close on Jan. 31 due to a low revenue stream. Jordan Collard.