A North Dunedin student pit stop has reopened just in time to serve up fare for hungry young minds.
The rebuilt Campus Wonderful Store dairy, at the corner Forth and Union Sts, opened last week for the start of the academic year.
The original building was demolished in September, along with the adjoining cafe, Fluid, to be rebuilt with two upstairs apartments.
The new building is more modern and the cafe has been extended into the dairy space.
Manager Simone Omipi said the owners were ''open to ideas'' to make the shop feel more like a student dairy, and create the atmosphere the old street art-emblazoned building had.
''We went for a different vibe, but we sort of want to make it look a bit more tacky.''
This year, she had noticed students were shopping ''a lot healthier''.
''I've noticed a big difference. Last year, their eating habits were terrible. They are sort of watching sugar intake and all that.''
However, the store still sold a lot of energy drinks, going through thousands a week during peak periods.
The store no longer sold scooped ice creams, partly because of a lack of space, she said.
''We weren't making a lot of money on them and Rob Roy [Dairy] is only up the road.''
Ben and Jerry's ice cream was a luxury item students had been buying in the past week, but sales were likely to drop off later in the year when they became more frugal, she said.
Students were not the only customers and in the late morning there was a rush of trade workers.
Previous owner Margaret Verkerk, who died in 2013, was ''famous in the student world'', she said.
The store, cafe and upstairs apartments are now owned by her son and daughter-in-law Lucien and Lynley Verkerk.
The shop, originally called Verkerks Store, opened in the 1960s.
Otago Polytechnic student Caleb Hathaway said he was glad the store had reopened.
''I'm over the road at the polytech all the time. I used to get a Lift Plus [energy drink] and a sausage roll in the morning, and sandwiches at lunch time.''
