Fairfield U. Bookstore to open downtown late October

Students at Fairfield University may be heading downtown for course materials in about a month as the school's new bookstore, slated for the former Borders Books and Music site, is expected to open late October.

"Right now, we're tentatively holding a soft opening on Oct. 29," said Elio Distola, a spokesman for Follett Higher Education Group, an Oak Brook, Ill.-based manager of 900 college bookstores that will run the store for the university.

"We're planning on a grand opening, but we're working with the school on the date for that."

Martha Milcarek, a university spokeswoman, said the grand opening is expected to take place within a week of the tentative date for the soft opening.

"Obviously, fixtures need to come in and renovations need to be done," she said.

The university in July announced plans to open the Fairfield University Bookstore in the former Borders space at 1499 Post Road after the now-

defunct national book retailer in March said it was closing its Fairfield store along with hundreds of other locations across the nation.

The Fairfield Borders store, which occupied 27,000 square feet on two levels, opened in 1996 with the debut of Fairfield Center, the downtown's commercial anchor built and owned by Kleban Holding Co. LLC of Fairfield.

The university's bookstore, which recently received zoning officials approval for outdoor seating for the store's cafe, will occupy about 12,000 square feet on the ground floor, 7,500 square feet on the second floor and another 3,200 square feet in the basement.

The store, which will take the place of the university's on-campus bookstore, will sell general-interest books and Fairfield U. merchandise, plus apparel and other branded items for its Fairfield College Preparatory School as well as Fairfield Ludlowe and Fairfield Warde high schools.