Hunger is a real thing at BCA. Student-run and student-managed, the BCA Mart school store is the place every food-craving student goes to during the last three hours of the never-ending school day. From chips, popcorn, fruit snacks, and a few sweet delicacies, to various drinks to satisfy thirst, BCA Mart has what every student needs to keep from falling asleep right on their homework-filled backpacks. And at conveniently low prices.

     Recently, however, these prices disappeared for one lucky student as BCA Mart held a generous promotion.

     Junior Elizabeth Zhou is the winner of the first official BCA Mart raffle and recipient of $15 worth of free BCA Mart merchandise.

     The raffle was a large promotional step for BCA Mart. The school store has recently created a Facebook page for increased student awareness, to use as a tool to reach the large portion of the student body who uses the social platform more vigorously than their school email.

“The marketing department is always coming up with ideas, and we definitely have more ideas on the way.”

     With the only qualification being liking the Facebook page and then entering one’s name into the raffle, a large number of students decided to participate. The winner was then chosen at random from the jar by the BCA Mart team just days before the Thanksgiving break.

     Originally, Zhou, a junior in ABF, did not think she was going to win. “Oh wow, a raffle; I’m not going to win but hey, why not enter just for fun” were her thoughts, she told the Chronicle.

     When she did find out, Zhou was shocked to say the least. “I was pretty surprised since I never knew I had the luck to win raffles.”

     Now, as the official winner of the raffle, Elizabeth has received $15 of BCA Mart credit to spend on whatever she desires at the school store. The question is, how exactly is she spending it? With a holiday sale currently in place in addition to the raffle, Zhou can receive more merchandise from the money than ever before.

     “The store credit in addition to the holiday sale has allowed me to buy more food when I visit BCA Mart, which I especially like to give to my friends. I visit BCA Mart very often nowadays because I want to maximize my purchasing power and get the most value for the credit I won.”

“With the first floor cafeteria being converted into the student center, more people will become even more aware of us.”

     On a side note, Zhou would like to extend her gratitude to BCA Mart “for saving us from vending machine ripoffs.”

     The raffle promotion was the creation of the BCA Mart Marketing team. Ivan Kozlov, an ABF junior and a member of the student team, said, “As a customer myself, I love it when businesses engage customers in activities outside of simply shopping. I thought the raffle would be perfect for enhancing the shopping experience, while at the same time connecting BCA Mart customers to the Facebook page.”

     Kozlov also added that customers have more to look forward to from BCA Mart in the near future. He said, “Because this raffle was so successful, we hope to implement new engaging promotions such as games, more raffles, and other contests in the near future.”

     New products are making their way to BCA Mart as well. Edison Hauptman, also an ABF junior and BCA Mart Marketing team member, elaborated on what to expect from BCA Mart soon.

     “The marketing department is always coming up with ideas, and we definitely have more ideas on the way,” he said. “We’ve recently added Snapple to our line of products, and we’ll also be coming out with another line of clothing towards the spring season.”

     Hauptman believes the first raffle was a great success.“I think that many more people were made aware of the store, and with the first floor cafeteria being converted into the student center, more people will become even more aware of us.”

     BCA Mart is located in the student center right next to ping pong tables and other amenities.  “When people come to the student center, BCA Mart is right there, and since we’re responsible for the ping-pong tables and the pool tables, we get to see them being used quite a lot, and that’s validation that we’re doing something right,” added Hauptman.

     “In the meantime,” he continued, “We’ll be thinking of other ways to make BCA Mart a place that everybody knows and loves not only as a business that gives back to the school, but also as a great project or volunteer opportunity.”

     BCA Mart is open everyday mods 19-27 in the student lounge. Management and operations functions take place during the BCA Mart project every Wednesday.