A student entry this week on the Tuck Admissions Blog called attention to a special opportunity Tuck School of Business students have to gain important real-life retail experience.
“In many MBA programs, there is little attention given to retail per se, and yet the act of purchasing products, marketing, and then selling them encapsulates what almost every business does,” writes Will V. (T’10). Though the products and customers vary widely, retail is crucial, he continues.
At Tuck, the school store provides an invaluable experiential learning opportunity that teaches important lessons in retail. Called TuckStuff, the Tuck store is run by second-year students seeking real-life experience as small company entrepreneurs. These students manage the store’s P&L, control inventory, oversee staffing and decide the best use of promotions and traditional and electronic marketing. “They call all the shots,” Will writes.
TuckStuff began in 1986 as a project in the Tuck entrepreneurial class. The store has grown each year, and in 1998 the TuckStuff website was launched to complement the campus brick-and-mortar location.
From its founding through 2003, the store was sold each spring to members of the first-year class through a bidding process. But in 2004, the Tuck School purchased the store to ensure that all students would have equal access to the small business management lessons that participating in its operation provides.
Though owned by the school, the store is still entirely student run. And a significant portion of the profits generated through TuckStuff sales go right back into student organizations or to support career development, social events and diversity initiatives on campus.
To learn more about TuckStuff, click here.
