Business has been strong for the new FedEx Kinko's in the LaFortune Student Center, said Director of Administrative Services and Business Operations Dan Skendzel.
The new location, which is the second on campus, opened Oct. 29. The first FedEx Kinko's opened in Grace Hall in 2005.
FedEx Kinko's replaced The Copy Shop, a privately owned business under Copy Services, Inc., which operated in the LaFortune basement for 18 years. The business closed after a nearly two-year-long legal battle.
Compared to The Copy Shop, Skendzel said FedEx Kinko's prices are "much more competitive" than the rates at The Copy Shop.
Pricing for black and white copies is $.04, down from The Copy Shop's charge of $.08 per black and white copy.
Saint Mary's sophomore Catherine Germer paid $6.70 for 70 black and white flyers for the Equestrian Club of Notre Dame and Saint Mary's.
"I thought the pricing was really reasonable," Germer said while picking up her copies.
Bridgett Kent, an administrative assistant for the University Writing Program, agreed.
"I like that the prices are a lot less," she said. "But I liked The Copy Shop more on service."
Kent contrasted the new FedEx branch with the former campus-based Copy Shop.
"I think a lot of people liked that The Copy Shop was campus people serving campus people, which you don't have when there's a corporate business in there," Kent said. "But then again, you're paying less."
Skendzel noted the benefits of having a corporate copy center.
"With the new FedEx Kinko's, you have access to the multitude of Kinko's services," he said. Those services include online ordering and shipping. Also, the cheaper Notre Dame rates apply to the 24-hour FedEx Kinko's State Road 23 location with a student I.D. card.
The legal battle over the The Copy Shop's LaFortune location began in August 2005, when the University filed a suit in the St. Joseph Circuit Court in Mishawaka against Copy Services, Inc. The University asked the court for immediate possession of the The Copy Shop's property in the basement of the student center.
The Copy Shop argued that its lease contained an "option to renew" which would allow it to stay in the LaFortune location until the owner decided he or she no longer wanted the space, or until they violated a rule of the lease.
The case went to the Indiana Court of Appeals, which ruled against The Copy Shop.
In March 2007, The Copy Shop closed its doors, citing the cost of the lawsuit with the University as the primary reason for its closing.
In a letter to customers, Tim Wright, owner of The Copy Shop and 1963 Notre Dame graduate, wrote that the University intended to "terminate our campus lease and, in effect, sell our business to Kinko's."
FedEx Kinko's first came to Notre Dame in 2005 after a campus committee researched ways to provide more efficient copy services to the University, at the request of Executive Vice President John Affleck-Graves.
Skendzel said there are no plans to add additional FedEx Kinko's to campus.
