No longer will students staying in residence halls have to venture out in the middle of the night for a snack to eat.

By the end of the school year all three housing associations will have convenience stores, officials said.

Stewart Burger, director of food service, said the food service department will open the first convenience store this fall. There will be a store in Union Drive Association, Towers Residence Association and Richardson Court Association.

Burger said the convenience stores will sell a combination of food, groceries, personal care items, snacks, beverages, soft drinks and microwaveable food.

The first, which is set to open in October, will be located in Friley Hall, Burger said. The remaining two will open later in the year in the commons areas of Wallace and RCA.

Burger said the idea for the convenience stores came from the extensive surveys food service performed last year.

“One of the things we got from our survey that was very striking, was the amount of time students spend going to convenience stores,” he said.

Burger said they realized convenience stores were a highly used item by students.

He said by placing convenience stores in the residence halls students won’t have to walk, take the bus or drive for the items they need.

“We’re not looking at the convenience stores as a revenue source for the department,” Burger said.

He said the food service department is only looking to break even and pay for the upkeep of the store.

In consideration of their customers, Burger said, all merchandise will be competitively priced, and there will be more value-priced items.

Students will be able to pay by cash, university debit card, checks or credit card.

Burger said their main reason for opening the stores is to serve the students. The stores’ hours have not been determined as of yet, Burger said, because they will depend upon student demand.

The convenience stores will not only serve students, but they will also be ran by students.

Burger said the stores will be staffed by students and each one will have a student manager.

Students in the architecture, design and interior design programs are helping to design the stores.

Randy Alexander, director of residence, came to Iowa State a year ago after a five year stint as director of university housing at the University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point.

As director of residence, Alexander is responsible for all aspects of university housing operations including residence life, business operations and food service.

Born in Fort Worth, Texas, Alexander said he enjoys living in Ames because it is the “best of both worlds.”

“Ames is a nice size and it has a lot of services like entertainment that a normal town this size wouldn’t have,” he said.

Since coming to Iowa State, Alexander has been working on coordinating various functions, interfacing with offices such as the student health center, and the development of a master plan for reorganization of the department.

Alexander’s favorite aspect of the job is the challenge it provides.

“The plan to renovate the facilities and trying to get people to support and recognize the academic side of the service is very important,” he said.

Alexander has two children ages 15 and 20.

In his free time, he said he enjoys tennis, camping and gardening.