As the Mercer Island High School student-run store phases out older products in favor of healthier items, students and teachers alike wonder what may happen to the store.
Will it be able to compete with corporate food provider Chartwells while following new, strict food guidelines under the district’s Wellness Policy? Will the store need to become a satellite to Chartwells, with student staffing?
Students aren’t sure. For now, the store is well stocked with ice-cold colas and sugary snacks, cookies, chips and other sundries. But when supplies run out, the store is required to replace those with healthier items under the policy, which allows for sales of items bought before the policy was implemented.
The store has already taken a financial hit with the implementation of credit-card-like money cards, which students load with money and use at dining services. Because those cards cannot be used at the school store, it has lost some revenue, according to Carol Wisely, MIHS marketing teacher.
Adding the restrictions of the Wellness Policy may further undermine the store’s ability to compete with Chartwells. The school store last year spent $19,894 for $24,818, to make $4,923. By comparison, Chartwells spent $1.35 million while taking in $1.29 million.
The store may need to join with Food Services in order to survive, Wisely said.
“We’re not going to be able to have nearly as much variety of inventory,” said senior Keegan Conway. The store keeps afloat by providing different items that cater to students’ desires, she said. “This is what people want. I’m afraid people aren’t going to want the new stuff.”
While many students in Wisely’s marketing class said they believe the school needs healthier food options, they also said they believe the Wellness Policy is a bit too strict and fails to adequately include the exercise elements of health.
They’re also not sure how much they like the idea of the store becoming a food services satellite.
“The student store will become something totally different,” said store manager Regina Giovanelli.
Working under food services might take away the marketing and management elements of the store that make it such a great teaching tool, said senior Carolyn Sage.
“Part of the student store is a teaching aspect.” Sage said. “I’m not sure how much of that would remain.”
Taking marketing principles and applying them in the high school makes the store highly appealing, Conway said, because she gets to do hands-on learning instead of studying theories.
“It’s a completely different experience than most other classes offered,” she said.
Wisely said administrators at the high school will decide sometime this year how to keep the store afloat, by combining it with food services or allowing it to remain independent.
“The student store will need to conform. … I think that’s one of the reasons that we’re working this year as a transitional year is to hear the situation with the students stores and take that into consideration and have good conversations about it,” said Kathy Morrison, Island Park principal and Wellness Policy committee chair. “If that is indeed true that they wouldn’t be able to compete, that they can’t find the options, then we need to talk about it and talk about the ramifications of going out of business or joining with Chartwells.”
