UNL Dairy Store celebrates relocation, advoates for Nebraska's dairy industry

The first University of Nebraska-Lincoln Dairy Store started in 1917 on the back of a wagon.

"If you brought your own glass and paid a nickel, you could drink all the milk that you could drink," said Michael Boehm, vice chancellor of the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

The UNL Dairy Store offers dairy products including ice cream and cheeses which are handmade by UNL students in the dairy plant.

In October 2019, the Dairy Store opened its new location on the opposite side of the building from where the previous location was.

The Dairy Store celebrated the move on March 12 as part of College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources week.

"We were looking for a good time to just kind of reintroduce the store to our customers who have maybe been hibernating over the winter," said Terry Howell, executive director of the Food Processing Center at UNL.

The Dairy Store handed out free ice cream as part of the celebration.

The relocating of the Dairy Store is a part of a larger plan for East Campus. Buildings like the East Campus Union and the C.Y. Thompson Library are undergoing renovations.

"There's a grand, kind of, master plan for East Campus and this was just, you know, the first domino that fell," Howell said.

Boehm said that the old location felt like a wide spot in the hallway and now it has its own space.

"I think there'll be a whole new generation of people who remember the dairy store being here," Boehm said. "This is an exciting space."

Along with the relocation of the Dairy Store, the dairy plant will also be moving.

Josie Houston, the dairy plant manager, said In the next couple of months, the dairy plant will relocate from the Dairy Store over to Innovation Campus to be with the food processing center.

A big part of the relocation of the Dairy Store and dairy plant is to help the dairy industry in Nebraska.

"We're trying to grow this business and do some different things, working with the dairy industry about what needs they might need," Houston said.

Houston also said it's surprising Nebraska even has a dairy plant because the dairy industry is small.

The new location and features of the Dairy Store will hopefully help with that.

"We're looking forward to utilizing this space as really a launching spot for promoting dairy and growing dairy across Nebraska," Howell said.