PUC’s Student Association Opens The Shed with Affordable Outdoor Gear

The Shed is an outdoor gear rental facilitated and funded by SA and the SA Senate. They rent athletic and outdoor equipment to the student body, such as mountain bikes, paddleboards, and backpacking gear. The initial equipment, like several REI mountain bikes and paddle boards, was funded through an SA Senate bill several years ago and was the utilization of the equipment.

Daniel Randall, student manager of the Shed, has been involved since the end of last year. He loves all things outdoors and sharing that with others. “PUC is located in such a great spot for outdoor activities, with many recreational options and places within such a short distance away!” says Randall. “I want everyone at PUC to have the opportunity to take advantage of this if they want to!”

The goal of the Shed is to make more outdoor recreational activities available to PUC students by offering a wide range of outdoor gear for rent at affordable prices to students and faculty. They have mountain bikes for exploring the trails of the Back 40 and inflatable kayaks and paddle boards for convenient transportation to places like Lake Berryessa. Safety equipment like bike helmets and lifejackets are required. They also offer a variety of camping equipment, including gear more suited for backpacking or car camping.

In addition to offering gear, employees give information about places to go and favorite trails- and are working on creating offerable materials in the coming quarters. The Shed opened for a few trial weekends at the end of last year to see how it could work, and it was a great success. They have been open officially for rentals since the start of this quarter, and it has been a hit ever since!

Due to COVID, the Shed opening was delayed for several years. However, last years SA officers helped open the shop by cleaning the space in the basement of the West Hall Annex – the red door across from the stair-down to the Grind (also known as the student center). They also spent a portion of their budget to purchase a lot of gear, mainly the paddle sports and camping gear. Two in particular, Alex Chuquimia (previous SA president) and Eden Salazar (previous SA social vice president) organized what gears to buy and made many plans that have set the Shed up for the path of success they are on today.

This quarter, the Shed has been open Mondays from 4-6 p.m. and Thursdays from 11 a.m. - 1 p.m., with the idea that people could pay a base rental price and rent out their desired item for the whole weekend and use at their discretion before returning it on Monday. People can also rent from Monday to Thursday for a mid-week adventure.

Currently, there’s a lot of paddle sports, mountain biking equipment, essential camping gear, and are slowly building their auxiliary camping material inventory. As interest grows from students and the community grows, they want to be able to keep expanding inventory and services, like offering bike repair and maintenance.

Randall says the biggest way the PUC community can support the Shed is involvement. “With more involvement, we can do more! We want to see everyone accessing the wonderful recreational activities around here!”

Follow the Shed on Instagram @theshed.puc or email theshed@puc.edu with any questions or suggestions.