Creating a school store within your school can not only solve the problem of needing to raise funds for extra programs for your school, but it can also provide students with an outstanding learning opportunity.
Setting up a school store is one of the easiest ways to raise funds for your school, and it benefits your students as well, since they often find themselves in need of basic school supplies.
The first thing that you need to do is find somewhere to obtain your school supplies wholesale.
Usually, this can be done in smaller quantities if you buy online at a dollar store.
This is good to start off, because you won't need to buy a case of glue sticks or a gross of pencils to get a good price break, enabling you to make a small profit on sales.
You'll also need to determine what kind of items you'll stock.
Pencils, pens, markers, colored pencils, notebook paper and spiral notebooks are essential.
You can add more items as your sales start to pick up, although these basic items will probably always need to be included in your inventory.
Some school stores stock some specialty items like art supplies, and even shoe laces.
You may even decide to carry candy or snacks, but some school districts have prohibited the sale of these types of items, so make sure to check the rules of your district if you're thinking about carrying those items.
Once you've decided what you're going to carry, and you've placed your school supplies wholesale order, you'll need to have a space for your school store.
You can make do with a table, chair, and cash box, and set up and take down your store as needed, or you can get permission to use an unused room or corner of the cafeteria or commons area.
It will be much easier if you can get a specific area that you can lock, so that you can leave your school store set up, and open it whenever you have volunteers available.
It's a good idea to coincide the opening of your school store with an event like Back To School Night or Parent-Teacher Conferences, so that parents can see your store and how it works.
They're much more likely to send some money to school with their child to grab a pencil or some notebook paper if they are aware of the store, and sure that their kids won't be sneaking away to buy a soda at the local convenience store.
Make sure that the parents know exactly what the school store will be funding: playground equipment, field trips, or a specific activity such as an assembly.
People are more likely to support fundraising activities when there is a clear goal in mind.
You can send out an email or flier as a specific goal is met and it's time to move on to the next one.
Inviting parents to give their input on what the next funding goal should be is also a great way to increase attendance at PTA meetings or school events, and could also result in higher membership numbers for booster clubs or PTAs.
Consider increasing your inventory once a month or quarter, and send home fliers or emails to parents, reminding them of both the new items in your inventory, and the convenience of letting their students shop at the school store.
It saves parents midweek runs to the store and doesn't disrupt schedules.
Older students can work at the school store to learn basic bookkeeping skills, work on their math skills, and learn how to present themselves for job interviews.
These experiences will help them learn how to function in the real world, and can be part of a math unit, business skills unit, or life skills unit.