The Fair Grove High School Store has for years offered students a place to purchase snacks and drinks outside of lunchtime as well as the opportunity to get business involved before graduation.
The school store is run from two sides. One side is the merchandise/spirit shop which is operated by Cayse Overstreet, the High School Marketing and FBLA advisor, and her school store class. The other side is the coffee shop (also called the Nest) which is operated by Amy Johnson and the National Honors Society (NHS) which she advises. Both sides work with each other to run the store as a whole and provide students with sweet treats and flight gear.
On Overstreet’s side she is the store manager and some of her returning students are selected as either assistant or team managers. This year the assistant manager is Brylee Mallard (11) with team managers being Kynlee Peck (11), Kaiden Lambert (11), and Addison Voorhis (11) .
Mallard is very enthusiastic about working with other students and plans to keep things entertaining and new. She shared, “The class can sometimes become repetitive, so this year it is my goal to keep the class fun while still being productive.”
Based on their interests and skills, students can join five different teams: Merchandise, marketing, operations, production, or finance. Each team does their specific tasks in order to come together as a whole to design, produce, and distribute high-quality gear. Sometimes students in the class can find themselves facing adversity and struggle.
Overstreet remarked, “We overcome these challenges by ensuring students are passionate about the team they sign up to be on. You are not always going to love everything about your job, but if you enjoy what you do and it highlights your strengths, you are more likely to find fulfillment each day.”
According to Overstreet the store has tried to add something new each year since they opened their storefront in an effort to grow and improve their store. This year the store plans to move entirely to barcodes in an effort to make the checkout process more efficient. There may also be a limit on the number of people going in the store at one time, later in the year, to help with the overflow of students. This year, the school store intends to follow their new motto,”Make workdays count, and not count workdays!”
On the coffee shop side of the store, Johnson works with NHS members who take shifts working. NHS officers include Addyson Nunley (12), Hali Stokes (12), and Lee Van Cleave (12). Members work the checkout process, prepare coffee orders, do inventory, restock, and try to provide the best customer service possible.
Stokes exclaimed, “I love working at the school store because I get to talk and interact with people I normally don’t talk to on the daily.”
Many consider the school store a successful business at Fair Grove High School. Stokes added, “It is successful in the way that it teaches kids to be businessmen and women. They have to advocate for their products and convince buyers why they should buy their product.”
The store allows students to buy things they want during the school day while also providing the opportunity for students to get involved in a business to gain the experience and skills needed post graduation.
