Auntie Anne's Adds a New Twist to J Street

by Chris Evans

The smell of freshly baked pretzels and cinnamon has taken over the Marvin Center, as
the newest J Street addition, Auntie Anne’s, opened today.

With today's grand opening and a promise of free pretzels from 11-3, crowds gathered in
J Street with the line wrapping around the corner. The shop, which has been under
construction for months, takes the location of where a smoothie and frozen yogurt place
stood last year. Some students like sophomore Marissa Price were initially reluctant of
the change.

"At first I was mad that they were putting it [Auntie Anne’s] in because it's not healthy
like the smoothie shop was," she said, "but it'll be a good decision."

The student reviews seemed to be all positive, following the free sample. Auntie Anne's
offers more than pretzels to the anticipating student body, including drinks such as their
popular lemonade, which senior Carly Litchfield described as "refreshing and all around awesome."

The new spot, perfect for a snack between classes, offers a variety of pretzels including
salted, garlic and onion, the always popular cinnamon, and the classic original.

Though spicing up J Street's snack options, Auntie Anne's is not affiliated with Sodexo,
the company that operates most of J Street's options. Many students echoed that they
found this to be a perk, including Price who said, "I like that it's independently owned, by a super friendly married couple, not Sodexo."

One of Sodexo's higher-up managers, who wished to remain anonymous, thinks that the
addition of Auntie Anne’s adds to the good mix in J-Street that the students ask for,
though he added, "We'll see how it goes after free pretzel day. The last shop [referring to the smoothie
shop] could not compete with local businesses, we'll see if this can."

The couple who manage the GW Auntie Anne's, a popular franchise, is feeding off the
energy of the students, many agreeing with senior Daniel Katton who took no hesitation
in saying, "This is hands-down the best thing that has ever happened to J Street. No debate."