Tiger store

Published 9:11 am Monday, December 8, 2008

Students in the Management in Action class at Albert Lea High School are getting hands-on experience running a business by being in charge of the school store.

Deb Monson has been teaching the class for more than a decade and says the students enjoy receiving tangible evidence of their hard work.

“The great thing is that they really learn to work as a team and sometimes they’re working with people they normally wouldn’t,” Monson said. “I think the kids like that it’s hands on. They like that they can see something when it’s done a finished product.”

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The store had its grand opening Tuesday during the girls’ basketball game against Waseca and gave away cookies and juice as a way to entice shoppers.

The store sells a variety of Tiger apparel and school spirit items, from hooded sweatshirts to seat cushions.

“We learn how to keep a store organized and manage inventory,” said Justin Hansen, who was working the store during the grand opening.

The class of 32 students is divided into 10 groups, each in charge of a specific aspect of running a business.

Each group is responsible for a specific component of the business. Some of the 10 groups were divided into inventory, one for learning to operate the cash register, another for advertising, and another for the organizing the display. One of the biggest components of the class is finding a way to market the products.

The store was started with a $3,000 grant when the new school was built and now the store is totally self-sufficient.

“It’s a class I’ve never had experience in,” said student Eric Espe. “You learn how to manage your money.”

Espe said he took the class to get experience in business management in the chance that he might need it in the future.

The work is very involved and requires close attention to detail. The students are in charge of stocking the store and a majority of the inventory comes from local businesses. The store receives the inventory on consignment and earns a percentage from each sale. The store doesn’t have to pay for the products up front with the consignment arrangement with vendors.

“I think often, to me, the kids think it will be simple and it’s often more in-depth than they think it is,” Monson said.

The money raised funds a field trip, which the class will take to the Mall of America Wednesday, for a business seminar.

“They will get to learn how a multi-million dollar company is run and different management styles,” Monson said.

The class designed and ordered the T-shirts for the seniors, homecoming, the high school staff, the powder puff football game, and also sells flower-grams and created banners at homecoming.

The students have to make contact with the vendors in order to decide which products to stock and Monson said it’s a nice way for the students to make contacts in the community.

For the grand opening, the students originally planned to have pizza available for customers, but after some discussion they decided it was best to have juice and cookies as to not compete with the concession stand during the game.

The students get advertising using Tiger Vision, the school newscast in the morning, and through announcements in the newspaper or in school.

Keeping the store open has been troublesome for the group. The staffing is on a volunteer basis, but working in the store goes toward a student’s grade. Monson would like the store to be open throughout January, but much of the planning to open the store bogs down the time students have to staff the store.

“Next semester it will probably be open more because we will have less of those projects going on,” Monson said.

Monson would like to have the store open during lunch and also at some more sporting events in the future.