FHCHS has two main stores residing inside it. The most well-known being the Snack Shack, leaving its counterpart, The Ranger Zone, pretty unknown. However, things might be looking up for The Ranger Zone, as Business and Marketing teacher Kristin O’Brien plans to redesign the whole class for the better.
To get a proper understanding of the renovations, it’s important to understand the original class mechanics. The Ranger Zone is currently run by Marketing 2 classes, while Advanced Marketing runs the Snack Shack. Both of these classes are taught by O’Brien.
“Right now, I have Advanced Marketing and Marketing 2 split in the same hour,” O’Brien said. “Advanced Marketing has taken charge of the Snack Shack, and Marketing 2 is doing The Ranger Zone for now; it just depends on how many kids I have and what classes.”
This aspect of the class will most likely stay the same, as will the time spent in class. Even with Marketing 2 and Advanced Marketing sharing the same class, they still learn different things based on their experience.
Running The Ranger Zone is a paramount part of Marketing 2’s curriculum; however, they also need to learn aspects of business beforehand. This mix of hands-on experience and in-person learning is what makes this class so intriguing. Junior Lily Bergman describes this balance through her own experience.
“I work in the school store for my class, Marketing 2,” Lily said. “Basically, we have half the class where we can do work and our assignments, and then the other half we usually have to work in the school store, either by ourselves or with someone else in our class.”
When running The Ranger Zone, students do so with a counterpart to have someone to work alongside. However, even with only two to three students running the store, the customer-to-employee ratio is unbalanced.
Even with students spending half of their time running The Ranger Zone, the foot traffic into the shop has been slow. This decrease in sales is part of the reason the remodel is necessary.
“[Ranger Zone] sales at the moment aren’t very good,” Lily said. “We’re doing a year-end sale, so we’re selling everything in the school store and trying to get rid of everything so we can get new clothes next year.”
While the year-end discounts will hopefully increase sales, O’Brien’s plan to renovate will increase profits exponentially. Her plans perfectly combat the problems the store faces at the moment.
The Snack Shack does not experience the same profit issue as The Ranger Zone, making it easy to find the root of the issue. O’Brien believes the difference is due to the nature of the two classes.
“[The remodel will] be great because in The Ranger Zone, there’s only so much apparel you can sell on a day-to-day basis, while in the Snack Shack, you can get all the slushies and stuff when you come in,” O’Brien said. “So, the Ranger Zone traffic is a little on the lower side. Now they can do things while they wait for customers to come in, and maybe personalize stuff for them right there.”
O’Brien believes the contrast between the two stores is the key change in her renovation of The Ranger Zone: personalization. To combat lower sales per person, O’Brien has created a way to spark originality.
She plans to do this by introducing multiple new machines into the other half of The Ranger Zone, creating a more unique and profitable facet to the store. This new area will become a working business lab.
“The Ranger Zone is going to become a working business lab, so we’re going to have a couple of computers with crickets so you can cut vinyl. We are going to get two t-shirt presses, so then we can actually make our own t-shirts hot-pressed,” O’Brien said. “And then, we will also have an engraver and a 3D printer. We are going to be able to hopefully make more things we can sell ourselves instead of waiting for people to make them for us.”
The introduction of these new machines will turn the class into something else entirely. With more options, The Ranger Zone can hopefully close the profit margin between them and the Snack Shack.
Having an indoor business lab helps combat another problem from previous years: the overreliance on other producers, which can sometimes hinder production. Junior Alex Cook, who helps run The Ranger Zone, is excited to use the new equipment.
“Working in The Ranger Zone is fun,” Alex said. “[The remodel] is going to be cool; I think we’re getting a printing press so we can make shirts in class instead of relying on O’Brien to order stuff and put it in.”
While the financial and legislative aspects of the new technology are important, the hands-on experience the students will gain is even more so. The addition of these new machines will allow students to get a better understanding of the whole business process.
“The students will have a more active role in actually making the projects and picking products, designing them, and then selling them,” O’Brien said. “It won’t just be ‘Hey, let’s pick them, then wait, then sell them.’ They will actually be able to do the whole process.”
Having the students actually use the machines helps eliminate another previous issue. Due to the lack of foot traffic in The Ranger Zone, those running the store constantly had nothing to do as they had no one to sell to.
This change in the class setup will allow students to not only get a more in-depth look at business but also have fun while doing it. Once these machines are implemented, Marketing 2 classes will most likely exceed students’ expectations.
“The opportunity to learn how to use [the machines] will be a lot more hands-on instead of sitting there for half an hour without anything to do but sell stuff,” Alex said. “It’ll help us get a better understanding of making stuff and selling it.”
Students should expect an action-packed class with many hands-on activities. With these new classroom renovations, Marketing 2 will become a perfect mix of informational and engaging.
While not all the details are set in stone, FHC is excited to present these new opportunities to its students. O’Brien, especially, is ready to take advantage of these new machines; she already set goals in place, no matter how the renovations end up.
“The goal is to do things that are more personalized,” O’Brien said. “We can potentially add names and teams on [the merchandise].”
