After over a year of being closed, the store on campus is set to reopen following a series of setbacks.
The well-beloved PIVIK store is being set to reopen in January 2021 after it was closed by the shutdown of the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa (SFUO) in 2019.
“We’re currently in the process of negotiating space with the university,” said University of Ottawa Student Union (UOSU) president Babacar Faye in an email statement.
“We have shared a business proposal with the University and are waiting to reacquire the space so that we can begin to hire initial staff for the re-opening,” he explained. “We’re working really hard to bring PIVIK back.”
The UOSU has faced a series of obstacles in reopening PIVIK and one other business, Cafe Alt.
Faye referenced a lack of manpower and operational capacity which resulted in an incremental process of rebuilding and the UOSU prioritizing reopening services that were more important to the needs of students.
While it was always a focus to bring PIVIK back, he said the reopening was put in the background so that the UOSU could focus on more pressing needs and issues.
The reopening was originally scheduled for September, however the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the UOSU focusing on their main priorities in the fall and PIVIK’s plans being pushed back to the new year.
“We may be opening a business amidst a worldwide pandemic and economic recession, and we’ve had to be more cautious in our planning and predicting the measures needed to re-open,” said Faye.
With all of this, the USOU believed it was a wiser idea to push the reopening back to January.
Be sure to keep an eye out for the return of PIVIK in the new year.
