Before you read: Creating a comfortable atmosphere for students, the students from marketing classes II or higher use their knowledge in the school store. The school store allows students to build new connections with their peers as employees during lunch while giving them the opportunity to buy treats. Several varieties of popular snacks and drinks like Snickers, Twix, and gum are offered at the school store that students can choose from to enjoy.
BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS THROUGH THE STORE | Working the cash register during lunch, junior Ben Truza makes every trip to the school store quick and easy, ringing up the customers and giving them back change. Through this role in the store, Truza is able to build connections with everyone that visits and purchases items. “[It’s an] enjoyable experience with fun people,” Truza said.
Photo credit: Stephen Listman
EVERYTHING YOU NEED IN ONE PLACE | Learning life-long skills like salesmanship, customer satisfaction and communication, senior Barrett Nelson gains valuable experience selling to his peers in a retail setting. Unlike working a real job the school store is a low pressure environment where students like Nelson can feel less stressed than working in a public retail environment. “It helps me understand customer satisfaction and basic business needs,” Nelson said.
Photo credit: Stephen Listman
SWEET DRINKS SWEETEN THE SCHOOL DAY | Working in a school store can be a great experience for future sales professions, according to senior Nola Keith, who works by getting food ready at lunch to make customers happy and offering their favorite snacks and beverages. “The most popular products have been the Alani's, Takis and the Arizonas,” Keith said. “The Prime drinks started off popular but declined pretty quickly and nobody really buys them anymore.”
Photo credit: Stephen Listman
TURNING CLASSROOM LESSONS INTO REAL WORLD SUCCESS | Providing students with learning opportunities about retail positions, marketing teacher Brian Levinson prepares his students for the sales world by teaching students about merchandising, especially through the sale of food and clothes in the store. “Marketing I [teaches] all the concepts of the ‘Four P's’ of marketing customer service [and] some basic sales things are learned in that first semester,” Levinson said. “And then in second semester those things [learned in] marketing II [and] marketing III get applied for real world experiences.”
Photo credit: Stephen Listman
LEARNING VALUABLE SKILLS HANDS-ON | Students like senior Tim Montney gain real world experience by selling to students in the school store, working in a timely manner with his classmates to keep the line moving. “It’s very hands-on and actually teaches you how to work in a store as well as how to function as a team,” Montney said.
Photo credit: Stephen Listman
BRINGING THE SCHOOL STORE TO LIFE WITH CREATIVE MARKETING | Applying her passion for marketing and sales, senior Leilani Feltmen enjoys the advertising side of the school store through social media, as well as the knowledge and experience she has gained throughout the class. “This experience gives me skills to practice marketing to a variety of age groups and using multiple platforms like social media and the announcements,” Feltman said.
Photo credit: Lindsey Grice
BRIGHTENING STUDENTS WITH SNACKS | In the school store, customer satisfaction is of the utmost importance. To best serve the students, senior Brooke Thomas displays her newly learned skills and implements them into her involvement in running the store. “You utilize a lot of the same skills like managing inventory and learning hospitality skills that you can definitely use in a marketing class or competition,” Thomas said.
Photo credit: Carson Janisse
MANAGING THE MARKETING MIX | As a manager of the school store, senior Blerta Berisha takes her position with great authority and pride to ensure that the team stays on task. “With my position as a manager, I manage the other positions to ensure they are performing their job correctly, such as the cashier,” Berisha said. “Every student has their own responsibility like one would at a real job. Our top priority is making sure students, who are our customers, are completely satisfied with our products and service.”
Photo credit: Stephen Listman