Shoppers look through merchandise during a surplus item sale at UW-Green Bay, Marinette Campus Nov. 14, 2024. PC: Fox 11 Online
MARINETTE, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Shoppers were out early Thursday morning at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, Marinette Campus.
The college invited the community in for a surplus sale. Desks, chairs, lobby furniture, bookshelves, clocks, some classroom equipment and other items were available for purchase.
Earlier this year, UWGB announced it would be ceasing in-person learning at the campus. The sale was held to help get rid of any remaining items. Prior to the surplus sale, staff members from UWGB helped to relocate reusable items to other campus locations. Proceeds from the sale will benefit the Theatre on the Bay Program at the Bayshore Arts Center on the Marinette Campus.
“It’s definitely hard for the community and glad we still have a presence with the theater and the fine arts building, but yeah, definitely bittersweet for sure,” said Erik Aleson with UWGB facilities management.
On Thursday, UWGB opened its doors to the community looking to sell off tables, chairs, office supplies and any other odds and ends not needed on campus anymore. The sale came after months of inventorying by UWGB staff who helped to relocate useable items to other Green Bay campus locations. What was left was available for anyone in the community to buy.
According to Aleson, “We had about a hundred office chairs, the rolling office chairs, desks and just a lot of bookshelving, file cabinets. There was probably anywhere from 30 to 50 of those.”
The sale started at 10 a.m. and before noon most of the items were gone.
The City of Marinette Police Department taking advantage of the sale, planning to outfit its offices with all — new to the department — furniture.
“It’s going to help us out a lot. Just a simple desk could be a couple hundred bucks but with everything, with our equipment being so outdated, we got 15-20 desks so we’re going to utilize it. We’re very thankful. It’s a huge costs savings so we’re thankful,” said Officer Brad Bayerl.
While some people shopping the surplus sale were here out of need, others were looking to take home a little piece of nostalgia. Shopper Tory Ortscheid added, “This has a legacy and it’s been such an important part of the community for so long, so just to have a piece of the history here I think really does, is heartfelt.”
Marinette County officials say there are no plans to repurpose the vacant buildings just yet, saying UWGB is still responsible for the buildings, under a 75 year long lease agreement.
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