FARMINGTON — The University Store on the campus of the University of Maine at Farmington opened Friday in the Look House on Main Street.

“We’re in the process of moving,” Mary Ellen Martin, director, said Tuesday.

The move from Olsen Student Center was at the request of the administration, who felt the Main Street site is more visible for the community, she said.

The former private home, most recently used as offices for Alice James Books, has retained the varnished woodwork and living room fireplace with only some modern touches added, she said.

Alice James Books has moved to another private home at 114 Prescott St. It is the former site of Sonya’s Hair Studio next to Rollo Pond in Abbott Park and recently obtained by the university.

The University Store site in the Student Center is now closed, Martin said. The new location doesn’t offer quite as much space as the previous site but provides visibility.

“It’s different traffic,” she said. People are coming in to see what the new space looks like compared to customers at the previous site.

The store has two full-time employees and one part-timer, although a second part-time person and student interns are expected to be added.

“It’s impressive,” UMF student Haley Gross said as she shopped for school supplies.

abryant@sunjournal.com