Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, the school store has been reborn. This year, the school store, run by FBLA students, moved locations and students have been working on growing the inventory of the store as well as working with customers.

“The old school store was kind of tucked away in that corner down in the lower commons and just didn’t give us a lot of visibility,” Ann Lujan (Business and Technology) said. “We’re really trying to increase school spirit and encourage students to get more involved in things and the visibility of a school store we were hoping was going to kind of help with that.”

After being approached about changing the school store location in February of this year they moved forward with planning.

“The first step that we did was to find a location,” Tristan Aluri (12th) said. “Then it was to have construction done.”

The school store wasn’t built overnight. Students had to work hard over the summer for the school store to be ready. 

“The school store officers definitely put a lot of work into it and it was a time-consuming process for them,” Preethi Gurumurthi (10th) said. “They were able to find a way for it to be set up so that it didn’t fill up the space in a cluttered way.”

The school store is an ongoing process that starts each day with students working.

“A typical shift starts off going around the store making sure all the signs are up right,” Hayden Samala (12th) said.

Throughout a shift, each student will help out in various ways.

“We have students at the register, helping out customers when paying,” Aluri said. “We also have students that are walking around helping customers choose what they want or bringing new sizes. If we don’t have a size available in the front, we might have some in the back.”

During their shift, they also work on advertising that applies to the different seasons or parts of the events.

“We put out some winter advertisements and black Friday advertisements just to promote the school store more, but we tried to do it so that it relates to the students and we try to make it kind of fun and interactive for the students,” Gurumurthi said.

The experience is also shared with other students to help them learn about business.

“We also have ILC students come in for a little bit of the period towards the end,” Gurumurthi said.

Students who work in the school store have already experienced a business class. The school store works to build on those ideas.

“Working in the school store has been one of the best experiences,” Aluri said. “I was able to collaborate with other students and also with Mrs. Lujan”

While the staff has worked hard and taken responsibility for the school store, everything they do has been for the customers.

“It’s been fun to see kids come in and embrace grand view products and really kind of want to wear grand view merchandise with pride and get really excited about it,” Lujan said. 

The school store has become a unique opportunity for students interested in business.

“It’s really good hands-on experience to be able to get a feel for what business is in the real world,” Gurumurthi said. “It was really honestly helpful to be able to learn about that in a way that wasn’t in a class setting.”

Although Ms. Lujan is the supervisor to the students, the students mostly run the store.

“I have loved seeing the students take ownership in this, I’m truly just here to kind of guide them and they really have taken ownership in it,” Lujan said.

Throughout the year the students have learned and experienced business in a way that will help them more in the future. 

“This experience will help me in the future because it gives me real world scenarios dealing with customers and dealing with our producers,” Aluri said.

However, challenges still mark the path of the school store.

“We don’t have a POS or point of sale system, so we are just using revtrack,” Lujan said. “There’s no way for us to get an instant look at our financials or an instant look at what our inventory is like, we have to do it through multiple different steps.”

They still have students who walk into the store not realizing it exists. 

“The challenges of the school stories I would say are mostly advertising, especially since this is our first year, not many not as many people know about school stores as there should be,” Aluri said. 

Even with the obstacles they have yet to overcome, the school store continues to grow.

“I think those challenges and obstacles that come are just a part of the process of making the school store better,” Gurmurthi said.