Giant Eagle Providing Curbside Delivery to YSU Students

By Courtney Hibler

Youngstown State University is partnering with Giant Eagle to provide students with a fast and simple curbside grocery delivery service on campus.

This service allows on-campus and commuter students to order their groceries through the Churchill Commons Giant Eagle in Liberty with a required $35 minimum purchase. Orders can be placed using a debit or credit card and students can sign up at www.gianteagle.com/ysu.

When students sign up for the service, they are encouraged to use their student e-mail address to receive delivery notifications immediately.

Vaughn Myers, associate director of Kilcawley Center, said Giant Eagle has agreed to waive any delivery fees, and the groceries will be delivered on Mondays and Thursdays to the Cove in Kilcawley Center.

Photo by Tyler Rothbauer/The Jambar

“Students will then be able to pick up their groceries,” he said. “We strongly encourage YSU students to use this because if it all goes well, we would like to offer this to faculty and staff too.”

Myers said the number of orders placed will be limited in the beginning, but as the curbside delivery gains more interest, an expansion of orders will be made available.

According to Myers, the idea for curbside grocery delivery came together when Michael Cardwell, assistant director of retail of Kilcawley Center, reached out to Giant Eagle in Liberty.

“They were already offering Curbside Express and were excited to partner with us,” Myers said. “They didn’t hesitate to say yes and seemed very eager to get this started.”

Myers said the initial discussion for this service took place last spring, and Giant Eagle was the only grocery store offering curbside and delivery services.

In his opinion, this will be something convenient and easy for students on campus.

Louis Rendes, a senior computer information systems major, said this is a great idea and will provide options to those who may not have any means of transportation.

“Several of my classmates are from Nepal and don’t have any way to get to a grocery store,” he said. “This will drastically help them out since they can pick their groceries up right on campus.”

Haley Wilbert, a freshman pre-respiratory science major, said a lot of students will be able to utilize this system.

“I transferred here from Pittsburgh, and a lot of students had to find a bus route or a friend with a car in order to get food,” she said. “I know people who had to walk to the store, which was almost three miles away.”

Wilbert said two of her roommates are international students and cannot drive to the store, struggling to find ways to reach a way to buy their food.

“I’m really excited YSU is starting this and they keep improving things on campus,” she said. “I’ve never been happier, and it’s nice to see YSU supporting their students.”

Myers said there has been a great amount of growing positivity for this service and he looks forward to seeing how this will work.

“It can only grow as much as we allow it to, and I hope to see this become successful for the YSU community,” he said.