Students who frequent the West side of town will be forced to walk a few extra blocks to satisfy their junk food, caffeine and cigarette cravings due to the closing of the Uni-Mart formerly located at 134 W. College Ave.

The convenience store closed before winter break and now appears dark and empty, its former sign covered up by duct tape and its door bearing a small piece of construction paper with "closed" scrawled on it.

"It's very sad because now we have to walk really far to get our munchies," said Ian-Leif Plowes (junior-sociology), who lives above nearby Rude Boyz, 200 W. College Ave. "Plus, we were really good friends with the people who worked there."

Employees at Uni-Marts Inc., 477 E. Beaver Ave., declined to comment on the store's closing.

"They weren't getting a lot of business over there, and plus, there's another one right around the corner," said Aaran Ceasar, State College resident and employee at Mio Zio, 132 W. College Ave., which is next to the former convenience store.

Workers have been seen milling around inside the now-empty store, but the nature of the business that will be coming into the space is not known.

"I haven't received anything about a new business coming in," said Herman Slaybaugh of the State College Borough's zoning office. In American Stock Exchange trading yesterday, shares of Uni-Mart stock were valued at $1.27, down from a 52-week high of $3.20 last January. The company's 52-week low came on Dec. 10 of last year, near the time of the 134 W. College Ave. store's closing. At that time, shares were trading at $1.07.

Some students have their own hopes and speculations for the future of the former convenience store.

"I guess if it's not another convenience store, I'd like a nice clothing store to come in there, but it's probably too small a place for that," Plowes said.