At Wheeling Park High School, the Overlook store is not just a place to buy clothes or snacks. The store is also a place where students learn about business, marketing, and teamwork.
Ms. Bellanco has worked for Ohio County Schools for 30 years. About ten years ago, she started running the store.
“I love ordering, fashion, and designing, so this was something that I like. It was a good chance to start working with students in a high school store,” said Bellanco.
Choosing products depends on what students like.
“Hoodies are the best seller, students love hoodies and Nike has always been a great seller,” said Bellanco.
If something doesn’t sell, she does not reorder it. Prices of all items in the school store depend on how much the cost of the product was originally.
“Well, there’s a small markup for the school store so I put what costs to me to buy the product shipping and everything included, then I take that base price to the markup and that’s how the prices are decided. It’s basically like a normal store like Cabela’s or Gucci,” said Bellanco.
The money from sales stays in the store.
“The profit I make allows me to buy new products and restock,” Bellanco said.
The school store wouldn’t be able to function without its essential workers. Ms. Bellanco has students who come in every period and help her to run the store smoothly. The workers help with restocking, cash, and cleaning.
Marketing is another big part of the Overlook. Students in the marketing classes run multiple social media accounts to help promote new designs and products in the school store.
“We originally designed our promotions to be focused on Park life. We want all our promotions to show Park students’ lives and doing sports,” said Mr. Turbanic, marketing and finance teacher.
“We thought it would be boring to see a shirt in a white background so we thought it would be better to show a Park shirt on a Park student playing basketball, for example,” said Turbanic.
The marketing team also uses trends as much as they can to push out as much marketing as they can. They use trending audios and funny promotions to attract as many views as possible.
Selling more expensive items is another challenge.
“A lot of the merchandise that we have is branded through Nike, for example, so we know we have some challenges with the prices. So, we try to focus on not the price, but just the quality and material and put it together in outfits,” said Turbanic.
Timeliness is also important when prepping products for the store.
“The biggest challenge is timing, if it’s something promoting the football game for Friday, we need to make sure we have all the things ready by next Friday,” said Turbanic. “The big thing for us is that we are students that promote The Overlook, we are like the outscenes.”
The Overlook is more than a school store—it is a place that gives students real experience in business and marketing while supporting school spirit.
