Mr. Miller – I heard there was a previous student store, and I always thought that was a great idea. When I started, I was the business and entrepreneurship teacher.  I wanted to bring in some real-world experience opportunities into this rather than have students just sit in a classroom. Past administration then gave us the okay to sell breakfast every morning in the cafeteria and we opened a coffee shop for that semester. It was great and we made a lot of money, the student staff I had at the time were enthusiastic and proud of the sales we were making. Then we pivoted and started to sell t-shirts with my next class. We did well with that class. They designed and marketed t-shirts and then the students would sell them at basketball games and events like that. When our new school president came in, he received a lot of feedback from alumni that they used to have a student store, and they wanted to know how to bring it back. That jumpstarted a lot of the conversations.

Mr. Miller – We found this available space that was perfect for the storefront. The process of building was like, ‘Boom, let’s get it done, let’s call a contractor, let’s start talking, let’s get students together and figure out what our inventory is going to look like.’ It happened fast. It was about five or six months of those types of discussions until we finally opened our doors in May. It was something that I always wanted to do and something that I was always interested in. It’s been a lot of fun.

Mrs. Schroeder – In the summer of 2023, students and alumni were asking for a spirit store and it was a matter of finding the space. We were able to relocate the reception area to a different part of the atrium and then utilize this space to create the spirit store. It’s still very much in the infancy because we opened in May.

Ryan – I plan on majoring in Marketing and Sales, when Mr. Miller mentioned the idea of opening the store up again, I walked up to him immediately. I was excited to understand how selling works and to build my experience level. When I’m applying to schools, I’ve been putting this on my applications that I’m learning how to sell and market things and that I’m learning how to inventory. It’s really going to bring me a long way. When I’ve spoken to colleges about the store, they liked how I’m getting that experience early and I’m getting that sense of stepping into something that I’m not just brand new to and it’s giving me an edge over some kids who haven’t really built the skills to market and sell things.

Mr. Miller – A lot of it is not just the experience of being a part of the operations of planning, marketing, sales, and other things like that but it’s doing it with classmates and friends. I’ve heard these guys talk about what they would like to do, there are students who would like to sell products or start their own businesses. When they get involved, they realize they can apply a lot of these skills to what they want to accomplish rather than just selling shirts or hoodies. They understand that there’s a lot more to this than just manning the shop. It’s understanding all the operations that have gone into it. The can then say, ‘What do I want to do with these skills afterwards?’ It’s also taking pride in the school and being able to act on that pride and take initiative. They’re also able to have a conversation with a customer, take feedback, and then use that feedback to make something better. That ability is something they can use in every aspect of their lives.

Ryan – I would say it shows you how a business works. I’m going to be a business major in college and I think I get the idea of keeping inventory, knowing what price things sell for, and knowing your profit on things. It’s given me a baseline of what I need to prepare for when I go to school next year and I think it’s given me a good idea of how a business works.

Mr. Miller – A lot of these guys who volunteer at the store are the ones who would come up to me when I would bring it up in classes or discussions. The students are taking on more responsibilities – they’re doing things like inventory, running the sales, and when basketball season comes, they’re going to be the ones responsible for opening the shop there. To see these students interested and taking initiative with this store was cool to see.

Lex – We’re also the first face people see when they walk in the school. We’re that first impression you get whether it’s a customer or alumni visiting it’s a big deal to us.

Matthew – I feel like we keep it up and running and we keep everything organized and clean. We make sales to anyone who wants to buy merchandise. We also keep inventory.

Shane – It’s important for us that when we have those special nights like freshman orientation, graduation, or open house – we make a lot of sales on those nights. We provide that experience of buying something inside of a school because that’s not really something a lot of schools have.

Matthew – I had to write an email with some pictures of new items that came in and send it to Mr. Miller for him to send out to the student body for people to understand that there are new items. It’s a good experience down the line for if I’m working or running my own business.

Lex – Getting a new item and putting it in the store isn’t always enough. Sometimes you get an item and you push a few people to get it, then I see someone wearing that new Benedictine quarter zip and I ask them where did you get that. I think it’s important to get that out to one or two students and then that can spread like wildfire. Marketing is not only sending those emails and setting out those posters but it’s a human-to-human interaction that’s important.

Shane – We’re not great at handling long lines and we’ve failed numerous times but when there is that long line, we are trying to figure out ways to get it to go faster.

Mrs. Schroeder – It’s a pretty small space so we do not have space for people to come in and shop like a traditional store, but the team does a great job of interacting with our customers. When we have large scale events like our open house, we have shelving units that we’ll bring out and have merchandise displayed outside of the store, that way customers have a chance to feel, touch, and size up the products.

Mrs. Schroeder – The funding from the Veale Foundation went to our merchandise and what we’ve stocked the store with. So far, we have been lucky with our initial inventory. It was kind of a shot in the dark as to what would sell. We sat around a room with a whole lot of options and discussed with our vendor and we made a lot of choices of what would sell and what wouldn’t. We have some slow-moving products but then we have others that are flying off the shelves. We’re adjusting as we go. We’re also tracking what people are asking for so that we see common themes that people want.

Ryan – You learn how to sell things along the way and learn what sells a lot. I think you learn what people have an interest in. We also hear suggestions of what to sell and that’s things to keep in mind when purchasing new things for our inventory.

Michael – I’d say there’s a certain thrill you get, that drive, when you want to start a business. I just love Benedictine itself so having that thrill and love combined is something that was a great opportunity to do.

Matthew – A big thing for me personally has been the customer interactions with people who are returning to Benedictine. It’s cool to talk to them while you’re making a sale about what year they went here. You get to learn a lot about the previous people who have attended this school and what they’ve done in their life.

Mr. Miller – Opening it was a big accomplishment and the sales we’ve had have been awesome. The participation from students has been great. I want more, I want us to work responsibly. I’m always telling the students that we have to be responsible with how much inventory we’re bringing in and that we have to be efficient. I want to see this business endure and I want to see it continue being a huge opportunity for students that they come in here and they realize that new classes come in and see it’s a spirit store but it’s not just that, it’s a great opportunity to come in here and have some real-life business skills and to apply them. That’s what I want it to be – not just to get a hoodie but for students to understand that this school isn’t just the classes you have, it’s the relationships you can build, it’s the skills you can learn and apply outside of the classroom, it’s doing something to build this community and build this school up. That’s what we’re hoping it can be. We’ve been open since May and we’ve seen great success. I want to keep enduring and make this as successful as possible. We want to make it a student success so that they understand that they can take this and do it out there and find their own.

Mrs. Schroeder – We are going to launch an online store, and we would like to integrate the Square website with our new website so that we can take online orders.

I’ve had a great relationship with the Veale Foundation, and I’ve enjoyed every opportunity they’ve given us. We enjoy all the different field trips and opportunities they provide. It’s also the fact that I can reach out to them, and they can connect me with other entrepreneurship teachers in similar businesses. That has been invaluable because when I started, I was so new to the curriculum of entrepreneurship. I was not offered something like this in high school. It is something that I would have loved to have been a part of. Just knowing what other schools have been doing and being able to share ideas has been invaluable. Getting the newsletter and hearing about other schools, I think that connection and network has been the best part of it.