The McGill University Bookstore in Montreal, Que., is asking McGill students, professors, staff, alumni and parents to vote on a new name. The store's current name--Bookstore--it says, is "a description of what we were initially created to do, and it is what most universities call their store. However, we all know we do more than just sell books; we sell clothing, McGill-branded products, gifts, technology hardware and accessories, stationery, food, frames, etc. We also host events and facilitate event registration. Bottom-line: we provide many different things to our very diverse community."
After a long process of evaluating options that were "logo-ized," tested and otherwise evaluated, the store came up with these two choices:
Magasin General Store, which the store said "by definition" is a general store and "leverages the tradition of another time, and evokes the concept of a gathering place."
Le James: Bookstore/Librairie, which is a tribute to founder James McGill and "enables us to put a unique name and face on the store, to tell great stories about McGill and honour all the great people who have graduated from McGill." Le James also "makes the store a real place, with a nod to our identity as an English institution in a francophone province."