With the opening of the Dragon’s Lair at Gretna High School, Gretna East is following suit and opening its own version of a school store. The store, The Griffin’s Nest, is officially open. If you can’t find it at the school, don’t worry; it operates fully online, bringing the merchandise to a wider audience. Interested buyers can use this Google Form to order their Griffin’s Nest shirt for $20 until the form closes on Nov. 22.
As part of her entrepreneurship class, junior Karli Williams is the sole student-mind behind the Griffins Nest alongside business teacher, Matthew Renshaw. The store is only selling one design at this time, but with different colors and for different grade levels.
“It is a cool opportunity to be the only entrepreneurship student working on this,” Williams said. “I’m excited about creating this store for the brand-new school.”
The Griffins Nest is not only an untraditional business for its small staff but for also not being solely profit-focused.
“The goal is to get stuff to people affordably,” Renshaw said. “We’ll make a little bit of profit to put back into the business, but we want to increase spirit and make good stuff to get into student’s hands at an affordable rate.”
With a grant from the Gretna Foundation, Renshaw and Williams were able to secure the necessary amount of blank shirts to print the design onto and get their business up and running. They will be printing the design themselves with a heat press at the school.
“Being the only one in the class will become challenging when we start producing the shirts,” Williams said.
Aside from creating the shirts, managing production and structuring the business, two other classes have been an integral part of the process and will take on an even bigger role in the future.
“The goal is to integrate it business department-wide,” Renshaw said. “The marketing team will help with designs. The social media marketing class will promote us on social media. The entrepreneurship class will make it to customers.”
Also looking ahead, Renshaw plans to make the store physical, using the Griffin room near the commons. He also plans to create more designs, integrate more students into the project and grow the entrepreneurship class. Renshaw is also working with activities director Ryan Garder on expanding The Griffins Nest.
“Lots of other clubs have a blueprint and this thing doesn’t” said Garder. “We’re kind of building the plane as we’re flying it, but it’s a great opportunity.”
Although there is not a set date yet, those who order shirts will have the option to pick them up before or after school sometime before winter break according to Renshaw.
