Printed: August 25, 2025
Hello to the USM Community!
My name is Stephanie Heinz, and I, like many of you, am approaching my first semester at USM with a whole lot of enthusiasm and maybe just a touch of nerves. I started as the new University Store Manager and Academic Liaison in late June, and I am deeply indebted to not only the store staff but every student, faculty, and staff member who has been part of my first months here.
For me, a new academic year has always inspired a larger sense of potential than the start of a calendar year. The utter thrill I experience from selecting a fresh notebook or seeing the clean flow of a new pen tells you probably more than you ever wanted to know and—now that I’m thinking about it—adds “wanting to work at a university store” to my long list of things I probably should have realized sooner about myself. But that’s what this is all about, isn’t it? Life in general, sure, but few eras of life honor the cycle of exploration and self-discovery more than college. Whether this is your first foray into a community wholly on your own terms, a return to routines, a divergence from the path you thought you had to follow, or anything else between, my biggest hope for us all this semester is to embrace the unexpected opportunities and revelations.
The primary location for the University Store is in the McGoldrick Center on the Portland campus, and we partner with our friends at Sodexo to provide Husky merch on the Gorham campus at Husky Hideaway in the Brooks Student Center. We’re also available online at https://shop.usm.maine.edu/, where you can place orders to be picked up at all three campuses, at no extra charge.
We partner with eCampus to provide textbooks and course materials. If you haven’t already, make sure you check all of your course requirements at https://usm.ecampus.com/. Just as with our merch orders, you can place orders to be picked up at the library on all campuses. Please keep in mind that the University Store does not have textbooks or leisure reading in our regular stock, although we’re looking forward to having themed collections at upcoming events.
New this year, the University Store is partnering with libro.fm to offer digital audiobooks, and we have additional projects in the works to continue expanding our services! We want the University Store to be a true celebration of the USM community, featuring products designed by USM students and employees, as well as independent creators based in Maine and beyond. While the store staff has a lot of ideas about how we can accomplish these goals, the most important piece is hearing from our community about what they’d like to see in the store and how we can meet their needs in other ways, so please reach out with any thoughts, questions, or concerns.
If you’d like to take a more active role in shaping the future of the store and have Federal Work Study funding available, we’re still accepting applications for the fall semester! Scan the QR code for more information, links to all of the resources mentioned here, and more. 
Best of luck to us all as we venture into this new academic year. I can’t wait to see what we make of it!
– Stephanie
