New Bstore offers one-stop shop for Kelley apparel

Around the corner from the elevator on the fourth floor of the Kelley School of Business, students can now find a one-stop shop for Kelley apparel and merchandise.

The Bstore opened Aug. 1 and is now managed entirely by business students.

“We saw the need for an apparel store,” said junior Alyssa Brooks, co-marketing director and one of the founders of the Bstore. “Our faculty adviser had heard a lot of professors and students ask for a place to get T-shirts, backpacks and folders.”

Additionally, the store helps Kelley-affiliated student organizations raise money by allowing members to staff the store and receive 40 percent of the profits generated.

“Different clubs get to use the Bstore for a certain amount of time, and their club gets some of the profit,” said senior Pat Elwood, a member of the Real Estate Club, which ran the Bstore the week of Sept. 13.

The store is particularly appealing to student groups who want to raise significant amounts of money that they can use for their programs and activities, Elwood said.
But the difficulty seems to be attracting customers.

“We’ve had a decent student response,” Brooks said, “but we’re struggling with people knowing about us.”

For now, Brooks said, the store has a relatively small inventory.

Despite the small selection, students have been impressed by what they see.

To spread awareness, the store will have a grand opening Wednesday through Saturday with special hours Wednesday and Thursday from 3 to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon.

The store is operated on a large scale by an all-student board of directors, which is part of the Kelley School of Business Women’s Financial Association, Brooks said.

The store itself is always staffed by students, and all the designs on the store’s apparel are student-made.

The shop also has plans to expand to more products and new designs so there will always be something new, she said.

Brooks and the board of directors  said they are optimistic and confident that when Kelley students know more about the Bstore they will be more interested in supporting the fledgling student shop.

Yet the store’s success in the future will rely on its ability to attract students, which some business students think is not likely to happen.

“If people are looking for shirts, it won’t be the first place they’ll look,” junior Chris Dunn said. “It’s not something I see expanding much farther.”