The MHS school store will open for the first time since before 2015. 

Business classes at Mead focus on merchandising and advertising and are designed to empower students to work through various levels of business classes that help them gain real life experience.

For the first year, the store will be student run by the Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) group and advisor Ms. Kristen Viera. Once the program continues to be built, students from the Tier 2 business courses be invited to participate. Tier 2 business classes are not being offered yet, as Viera is still building the business program. 

They plan on selling magnets, custom shirts, stickers, and care packages where students can buy packages for their friends. Care packages can be purchased by one student for a peer to pick up later and will include seasonal themes (like homecoming, winter, Halloween, and back-to-school). Students will fill out a form and will have at least three options to choose from. 

The school store is also sponsoring The Bee Conservatory next semester. Any proceeds from bee products they sell will go towards this fundraiser.

They also want to sell some spirit wear. Marketing officer James Zamudio (‘24) said, “There are a couple products that we want to sell like pens, pencils, [and] some spirit wear items, but not as heavy as Student Council because they do run the spirit wear here at Mead.”

The school store won’t be able to sell much this year due to district food standards that place limitations on food access. This year, they won’t be able to compete with the vending machines either, but next school year they hope to sell more variety of products.

The store will open Jan. 24 and will be open on Tuesdays and Thursdays during both first and second lunch, as well as after school hours from 2:45 to 3:15 p.m.

Viera and FBLA have been planning to open the store since last year and are looking forward to running the store and getting business experience.

Vice President of FBLA Chase Nicks (‘24) said, “We all play a role in [planning] as we are all coming up with things to sell.” 

Aaron Gutierrez-Olivares (‘23) said, “I think it [will] be something really cool that students should check out, just to see what we’re offering and selling. This is something we are adding to the school to show more Mav pride.” 

Viera added, “This is a work in progress and we are going to open with what we can. We are very limited, and we want to be a big part of Mead. My message would be to go easy because this is a [student] project that no one has ever done before.”

Next semester the group plans on hosting fundraisers that benefit the Longmont Humane Society in February. They also are continuing to build relationships with other student groups and classes.