Bear Discounts, a Washington University student-run business and member of the Student Entrepreneurial Program, plans on adding more vendors in the Delmar Loop, Clayton, the Central West End and downtown St. Louis areas.

About 400 Washington University students, mostly freshmen and sophomores that live on campus, use the 65 to 70 discounts that Bear Discounts offers at businesses, such as Domino’s and Seoul Taco. Most of the current vendors that the business partners with are located on the Delmar Loop and in Clayton.

“We’re definitely expanding into finalizing the rest of the Delmar Loop for restaurants, as well as going into the Central West End, Clayton, Ladue, and [want to] start to hit Downtown and Soulard, and just make it so that the restaurant aspect of the card is not just centralized in the Delmar Loop,” junior and co-owner Zach Byer said. “[We want to] provide diversity in location, type of food and just making it a little more broad for the student body.”

In addition to their main customer base of freshmen and sophomores, the company hopes to make the Bear Discounts card more attractive to graduate students and Washington University employees.

“We are planning to partner with the law school and other graduate schools and are working with Campus Life and Residential Life to offer Bear Discount cards to graduate students and employees at a discounted rate,” sophomore and co-owner of Bear Discounts Daniel Tanenbaum said.

Since graduate students may not live on or near campus, they would be able to take advantage of Bear Discounts vendors farther away, whereas underclassmen would be more likely to continue using their Bear Discounts cards in the Delmar Loop, as well as at other near-campus locations and places easily accessible by public transportation.

“If I went, I would probably have to use Uber, which is pricey, and that kind of negates the value of having the Bear Discounts,” freshman Maia Bender-Long said. “But I do think that it’s important to go more off campus and be more involved in St. Louis outside of the immediate area.”

Bear Discounts has begun working with Washington University’s alumni office to build its undergraduate customer base as well.

“We are also working with the alumni office so that alumni can offer to buy cards for students who can’t afford them. This would offer the card for free to students who might have an economic strain, so that they can experience off-campus life more,” Tanenbaum said.

The Bear Discounts card currently costs $25. Sponsorship from alumni would provide the card itself and students would spend their own money when buying from vendors. This plan would likely increase opportunities for students with financial constraints to get out in the St. Louis community where they would be able to buy food, clothes or other services at a discounted rate.

“Wash. U.’s food is good, but it’s important to get out and experience something different occasionally because you get really burnt out eating at the [Danforth University Center] or [Bear’s Den] or Holmes Lounge every day,” freshman Whitney Call said.