Next to the winding line of students buying textbooks at the Indiana Memorial Union bookstore there exists a room stocked with posters showcasing pop culture icons, classic art and inspirational quotes.
Among the sounds of tape scratching, plastic sleeves flipping and indie electronic music pumping, students at the IMU poster sale search for the means to brighten up their rooms.
“Whatever speaks to me,” senior Evan Ganser said of his search. “My room is so bland that I just, I need posters.”
The bi-annual sale, which accepts Crimson Cards, will run this week from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily in the IMU Georgian room.
Some of the posters are reused between sales, but the more popular images must be re-bought. Jason Baran, who's worked the sale every year, said Chance the Rapper and “Rick and Morty” posters usually sell out the fastest.
Ganser said he came to the sale looking for an old music poster, but roamed up and down the classic art and TV aisles with an open mind. He gasped as he pulled out a classical art poster buried deep within a pile.
“Ever since I was a child I’ve loved this painting,” Ganser said.
Seniors Katherine Wines and Samantha Feistritzer recognized many posters from their apartment walls and also from their years of going to the poster sale.
Wines and Feistritzer said their favorite purchase is a Rosie the Riveter poster, which they noticed again at this semester's sale. They said the poster inspired them to devote an entire wall of their apartment to every feminist thing they could find.
Most of the posters are about $4 cheaper than what students could find online, said Baran
“It’s nice at Wells where you can make your own, any time of the year, but this is cheaper than that,” senior Annie Merrit said about Wells Library. “And it’s just easier to pick it up and go.”
A 24-by-36 poster, the size in highest supply, costs $9.95. The largest poster sold is $15, Baran said, and the smaller ones range from five to nine dollars.
The poster sale contains about 3,000 different images, Baran said, which are categorized by sports, music, movies, TV and scenic. Baran said the selection is generally the same as the sale at the beginning of the year in August, but they always have new things coming in.
“We’ve spent, like, hundreds of dollars at this poster store throughout our years,” Wines said.
