The AHS student store opened in November for the first time in over a year. The store is located in the commons near the entrance to the C-wing. It is open for students to purchase drinks and merchandise. 

Students in the DECA class work the store and allow for it to be open during the following times.

“The store hours are Tuesday through Friday for all three lunches and we are open by volunteer students in the morning,” said Meaghan Matter, who teaches retail management (DECA).

The students rotate positions at the store to allow for everyone to have an equal opportunity to learn.

“I do [work at the store] about half an hour in the mornings and a 25-minute shift during my lunch, and sometimes after school,” said Lauren Zahradnik, a senior at AHS and employee of the student store.

After such a long gap of time with the store closed, many students have had little opportunity to work at the store, much less make it their own. 

“I started DECA when I was a Freshman and never did get the opportunity to work at the store… When I came back for my senior year after COVID I really wanted to renovate the student store to make it more industry-standard and friendly,” said Zahradnik. “I think what I have liked more about actually working at the store has been just rebuilding it and rebranding it.”

These opportunities are teaching moments and allow for a unique opportunity for the DECA students to learn. 

“They are learning how to do everything, how to run a store… manage… ordering, [and] how to do inventory. And the cool thing is that they get hands-on experience for future jobs,” said Matter.

After being open for just a month, the store is already looking to improve for the remainder of the year. 

“So far, we have done tons of new improvements just through COVID, we have gotten a new espresso machine, we are getting a new ice machine… a new dishwasher, we have gotten new refrigerators… We got the slushy machine… We got a new panini machine… We have painted. So, we have gotten a lot done this year,” said Matter. 

Additionally, the store hopes to begin selling new items along with bringing back items that have been limited due to COVID. 

“We plan on bringing food back at some point after COVID restrictions are a little less [restrictive]. We would love to bring back a yogurt machine. We are wanting to bring back more merchandise. We have some eagle gear that we are trying to sell through before we bring in the new stuff,” said Matter.

The money that the store makes from the sale of items goes towards funding the DECA program. 

“The markup is not very high… the little we do earn goes to funding for DECA trips,” Matter said. “So when they go to competitions it helps pay for the hotel’s travel, and those kinds of things so the students don’t have to pay so much.”

Like most other stores during COVID, the student store has had trouble getting stock of some of the favorite items of the store. 

“The most popular item is Red Bull, but Red Bull has been impossible to find because of the supply chain issues,” said Matter. “Lotus has been another very popular item and our new slushes are starting to be really popular so we are pretty excited about that.”

Employees of the store have also found items that are their favorite in addition to the customers.

“[My favorite item is] definitely a white chocolate americano with cream,” said Lauren Zahradnik.