2. In the Spring Semester of 2015, I was contacted by Dr. Deborah McCabe asking for my
participation on a campus project. Dr. McCabe had been my professor the previous semester, and
I had done well on her class projects. The email included but was not limited to: working with
other students to be consultants for the remodeling of the campus store; and to use concepts and
principles acquired from Dr. McCabe’s Consumer Behavior and Marketing Research courses.
We were assigned to develop a design that would increase foot-traffic and sales. I, along with
another student, Maximilium Wyzard, worked throughout the spring semester to come up with
an improved design for the campus store. Max and I met frequently with Dr. McCabe who
guided our design development and mentored us through the process. Designing the campus
store was an amazing learning experience. I learned how to work with professionals, create an
original design, and manage my work without having someone look over my shoulder.
Some of the work for the remodeling consisted of research. Finding architectural
concepts to fit the redesign. Looking at other campus stores for references, and scaling designs to
fit and be compatible with the layout of the existing campus store. I looked over previous student
information obtained from former class projects to obtain suggestions and findings to incorporate
into the design. The use of concepts and principles from relevant courses allowed me to
strategically implement a design that would drive in more foot-traffic and increase sales.
I mostly worked with the concepts from my Consumer Behavior course such as: the
transition zone, traffic flow, and The Big Three (design, merchandising, operations),
accessibility, shopper demographics, signage, and the checkout area. In this class we studied
Paco Underhill’s, Why We Buy, and it proved to be exceptionally helpful for the remodeling. The
most important concepts to research were shopper demographics, and The Big Three. Marketing
focuses the customers and meeting their needs and wants. In order to research and develop The
3. Big Three, knowing the customer was essential-the revamped student store needed to fit the
Menlo demographics. Once this information was available, I was able to apply the other concepts
most compelling to the design. However working on the transition zone, accessibility, and traffic
flow took a lot strategizing. The existing shell of the student store was small and needed some
renovation. As a consultant I needed to make use of all the space that was available for the store
adequately. The store carries a variety of merchandise, and I needed to organize the merchandise
systematically for an easy and useful flow when making one’s way around the store. My main
focus was to layout the store to make it look bigger and spacious. Overall I used my learnings
from most of the courses I took throughout my college career from marketing, financial, and
management.
Applying my skills and learnings from previous courses gave me a first-look into
developing and executing plans in a real-life scenario. As a consultant, I was able to enhance the
way I worked with clients and met their standards. I worked closely with Dr. Deborah McCabe
(Marketing Professor), Charlene Krakowsky (Campus Store Manager), Steven Weiner
(Executive VP for Finance and Administration), and Bob Talbott (Head of Facilities) discuss the
project plans and executions. Working with faculty, Max, and students taught me how to manage
working with different clients. The design developed needed to fit different demands. Through
this I learned how to communicate with different clients and take their needs and demands to
create a design that would comply with the resources available and their expectations.
Another part of the project was choosing the merchandise that would be kept, changed, or
removed. I researched and selected the equipment that would make up the store such as: wall
hooks, clothes racks, food holders, tables, lighting, displays, etc. Through proper allocation of
expenditures, I was able to improve budgeting skills. I needed to make use of all the resources
4. available to me to keep costs low to be able to execute a modern and fresh concept look for the
store.
The work for the remodeling was done over the course of the semester. Max and I
worked around our school and work schedules to meet and go over ideas, new findings, and
design concepts. I took inspirations from catalogs and other campus store designs, as well as
from my imaginative and creative mind for the store. My goal was to develop a design that
could be executed efficiently, but would captivate more foot traffic into the store. I created
designs and sketches, wrote up lists for the merchandise, categorized the sections in the store,
and talked with friends and peers for advice. I worked between forty to sixty hours for the
completion of the remodeling including dropping by over the summer to see the progress done.
Having the opportunity to work on such a grand project like the remodeling of the
campus student store was an amazing experience that taught me a lot about my management and
operating skills. I gained hands-on experience in developing and implementing a remodeling
project. This was a great opportunity for students to use their learnings from classes and apply
them to real-life projects. Max and I were both students and had jobs outside of school, taking on
this school-wide project tested our time management and productivity skills. I learned strong
professional working skills that have improved and developed my professional capabilities. It
was an honor having such a great influence on an improvement of the campus. This opportunity
truly demonstrated to me the great real-life experiences Menlo College offers its students.
Having my design chosen as the final design for the student store has improved my qualifications
and achievements.
