After ten years, it was time for Starbucks to upgrade.

The grand opening of the new and improved Starbucks, which has been on campus since 2006, was officially held Thursday.

Students gathered outside of the coffee shop to celebrate the store’s new renovations by participating in raffles, trying free samples and listening to a DJ.

Over the summer, Starbucks was expanded and updated.

The store now includes the space where the Hawk’s Nest convenience store used to be next door.

Starbucks was also given a new look that includes plenty of new seating.

According to Jessica Pratt, Aramark’s district marketing manager, Starbucks has a contract with Aramark that includes a full renovation to the shop every ten years. Aramark is the on-campus food service provider at ULM.

“So our ten-year came up and we knew that we wanted to do a renovation, but we also knew that we wanted to try to increase our capacity as well because we didn’t quite have enough room,” Pratt said.

Pratt said that the Hawk’s Nest convenience store next door wasn’t utilized very well, so they decided to make the area into a bigger study space for students.

“We tried to create a space that students could go and kind of have study groups and community tables and stuff like that,” Pratt said.

Pratt also added that part of the goal of the expansion is to make studying in Starbucks as convenient for students as possible.

As a part of that, there are outlets “everywhere,” Pratt said.

Stephanie Dixon, a senior english major, says the Starbucks renovation has made it a lot easier for students to hang out there. Specifically, Dixon says that she likes that there is more room to study.

“I like how they have most of the tables way in the back, away from the coffee sound so it makes it easier to study and it’s more relaxing, in a way,” said Dixon, who frequents Starbucks so often that the baristas know her name.