I think I want to open a store on the South Forty. The only problem is that I have no idea what I want to sell.
I think I've exhausted the extra-curricular activities scene. Most of them are filled with freshmen and sophomores, and since I'm three months to being a junior, I need to expand my horizons as to what I do for my non-social, outside-of-class time.
The best idea I have heard so far came up at a dinner conversation during Parents Weekend: Black Pants. Every girl on the campus needs them for parties, and every girl on the campus could use a few more pairs if they already came to college with a couple. And by Black Pants, I don't mean just any old black pants; I mean inexpensive, mass-produced, no funny pocket or hem Black Pants. (A friend tactlessly added, "If you walked into the store to buy a pair, you would actually have to buy two: one for before the freshman 15 and one for after").
Selling WU merchandise at a lower price intrigued me, but I would bet the Campus Bookstore and Bear Necessities would not appreciate my upstart.
What do college kids need? Quality questions aside, we have places to eat and places to study. Among the storefronts are a cell phone store, a refrigerator and microwave store, and a place to get a haircut; there's a place to drop off your laundry and a place to drop in for a movie—what else could we ask for?
Need a carpet for your old dorm room? The fraternities sell those. Want a discount card valid at scores of stores across St. Louis? Fraternity guys do that, too.
According to Jon Greenberger's February 8 article in Student Life, there are dozens of students interested in starting their own campus business on the South Forty. Can these entrepreneurial students think of something that Nate or the RCCs at ResTech or those weird ResFridge guys haven't covered? I challenge everyone (even those of you not in the B-School) to think of inventive ideas for storefronts.
In general, there is little, save the storefronts, to say about entrepreneurship on campus. There are casual marketing clubs and sports business clubs, but nary a group to help students learn how to manage their own business. I realize that WU has a first-rate undergraduate business school, but I think it is important to establish activity groups outside of the classroom that prepare students for potential undergrad business ventures. While I know of students who run their own businesses selling software or t-shirt designs, I do not think that being WU students furthered their projects.
To paraphrase senior Corey Harris, we need to evaluate how accessible the opportunities to begin and own a business are. If only "the rich kids" or the "B-school kids" can profit from student-run business, maybe the university needs to look into ways to encourage middle-class, non-B-school students to become the subject of their own modern Horatio Alger story.
And I still don't have a storefront. But I've got ideas. It would be nice if 569-DINE delivered to one spot on the Forty (a storefront) and thus could consolidate orders and lower the delivery costs. It would also be nice, so my roommate tells me, if there were an electronics store on the South Forty. How about a computer store? I think we are all crossing our fingers that Target will soon open a franchise on campus, but if not, what about a store that sells odds and ends? I'd even call the store "Odd & Ends." Or maybe, if I had my way, "Odd, Ends, & Black Pants."
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