Instead of students going to businesses, local shops came to them for the third annual Business Expo.           

Included at the expo were the Douglas Hart Nature Center, Jimmy John’s, Family Video, Pizza Hut and more.

Gabby Numi, a senior communications disorders and sciences major said she learned about different employment opportunities at the Business Expo and was glad to see Douglas Hart Nature Center.

“I love that area, and seeing Douglas Hart here made me happy and want to go there and volunteer more,” Numi said.

Claire Conrady, a freshman communication disorder and sciences major said she learned about a lot of different business.

Before coming to the expo, she did not even know that there was a Maurices in Charleston.

Beth Gillespie, interim director for volunteerism said she was happy with how the expo turned out.

“We have had good traffic in between classes and people going to the (Martin Luther King Jr. University) Union, as well as a good mix of different businesses, so the students are engaging and asking questions,” Gillespie said.

Jessica Hellman, general manager of Pizza Hut, said the restaurant’s main goal was to inform students that even though they are not located right next to campus, they could still offer their products to students.

“We can deliver to them because we understand not all students have vehicles,” Hellman said.

Joe Judd, co-owner of Bob’s Bookstore said it was his first year attending the expo.

His main goal was to let students know that they are just across the street from Eastern and offer a variety of different books events.

“ We have chess nights, poetry nights, Dungeons and Dragons nights, people doing readings,” Judd said. “We just want people to know we are here.”

Judd also wanted to students to know that the store is always changing.

“I think that for a lot of people, that if they walk into one place once it never changes, (but) we have new books every single day,” Judd said.

John Holman, manager of the Charleston Family Video said Family Video was there to inform students about employment opportunities.

“There are a ton of places to get movies and games these days, and you can do the Netflix thing, but we still want to inform students they can shop local,” Holman said.

Courtney Hughes, co-owner of Plush Boutique, just wanted to give her business more visibility.

“We opened in December and it was a weekend where all the students went home for Christmas, so our goal is to just get our name out there,” Hughes said.

           AJ Fournier can be reached at 581-2812 or ajfournier@eiu.edu.