I am a new PTO President for a local elementary school (k-5). We are planning to open a school store for the first time this Fall. We have a very involved parent who would like to run this store, but is looking for suggestions on what to sell. We are thinking about having it open one morning a week, and are planning to sell inexpensive school supplies and possibly some school spirit items. Any suggestions on the type of items, things that have worked or not worked, etc? We are thinking of having 5th grade volunteers (in addition to a parent) work at the store for a learning experience.

We have had a school store for the past 3 years and it has done very well. The one thing I would do is ask the teachers what type of supplies would be needed. The first year we had it the person doing the ordering, ordered some things that were not good for the classroom,(like kneadable erasers, and other things that the kids could play with)
The things that sell VERY well are gel pens, erasers(all kinds) mechanical pencils. Pencil grips. There are a few catalogs that handle supplies that are great to deal with, Raymond Geddes is one of them. Hope this is helpful!Good Luck!

We just had our school store on Monday, (year round schedule), which we held during the meet the teacher/open house. It was our first time, and it was very well received. We got the supply lists, and purchased from Target, and Office Depot, and marked everything up 10% above cost. We definitely plan on doing it next year.

We have had a school store for several years and are taking this year off. A few suggestions...keep your inventory simple to begin...the younger children have trouble making choices. Also, keep the pricing simple. Remember that grades K-2 especially are not always proficient with money and change. We limited our younger students to $2 of sales.

Alot of the merchandise that you can purchase from the various catalogs breaks easily. Be careful of what you purchase. Make sure that the things you stock are allowed in the classrooms. Many teachers see funky pencil sharpeners and pens as distractions and do not allow them.

Be sensitive to your population. What is the
percentage of free/reduced lunch students in your school. Alot of those families do not have disposable income for the school store.

Have a sense of humor. It's alot of work!