The 1891 Bistro at CWU underwent some minor changes this summer, in the hopes of making life easier for the students. It was decided that 1891 Bistro would stay open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and that there would be a new tech bar so that students could do homework in a comfortable place.

The decision for 1891 Bistro to remain open for 24 hours a day was made to help students. For some students, it can be hard trying to study in a dorm room, house, or apartment. The Bistro was always an option for students to have a place to study while they ate some food or got something to drink in previous years, but students had a limited amount of time to take advantage of it before the Bistro closed at 10 p.m. on most nights.

The new hours are especially helpful for students who study better later at night. The 1891 Bistro being open 24 hours gives night owls a place to study on campus after the library closes at midnight.

Alexander Vallone, a night-time supervisor at 1891 Bistro, has noticed an increase of students at night when it would have been closed last year.

“It’s already 10 o’clock, and we have a full Bistro basically, and people actually like it,” Vallone said.

Another new addition to 1891 Bistro is the Tech Lounge. There is space for 25 to 30 laptops in a laptop kiosk for students to check out. To use the laptops, students swipe their Connection Card to check one out for two hours. As of right now, there are no laptops in the kiosk but they should be coming within a couple of weeks.

A printer, which is already in the Bistro and ready to use, is another part of the Tech Lounge. Students will need to download an app that will allow them to print off their work. The app will charge students to print, but that money will come out of their quarterly allotted printer money just like any other university printer.

Three of the booths in 1891 now feature projector screens for students to do group work on. The projectors are the size of a small television and come with an adapter so laptops can be hooked up to the screen. This allows a place for students to do their group projects together without fear of being too noisy.

The Bistro has also added new food and drink items to their menu. Madison Rennie, a food service supervisor at 1891, talks about the new additions.

“We have this new healthy snack rack with kombucha, sparkling waters and different teas. We are doing new grab-and-go foods, and the bakery has implemented new flatbreads and different baked goods,” Rennie said.

Students are excited about all of the new additions to the Bistro this year. Sarah Pagel, a new employee at 1891, believes that the new policies are really helpful to CWU students.

“I think it’s awesome,” Pagel said. “Having a safe place on campus that is 24 hours and you’re not getting kicked out of is awesome.”