To give the school spirit store a more updated and organized look, members of the Future Business Leaders of America received approval to have the store renovated over the summer.

“The new store looks really professional and upgraded. They did a good job with the remodeling of the store,” said customer America Flores, sophomore.

Flores also said, “Everything looks cleaner and set in a more organized system. The people that helped remodel took their time and gave lots of effort to make sure the store is perfect.”

The renovations included new carpeting and dressing room, and the remodeling also led to the purchasing of more varied clothing brands.

  “The Mustang Spirit Store has needed an update for the past few years, especially recently because of all of the other updating going around in the building, so we really wanted to push for it this year,” said English Teacher and FBLA Adviser Sarah Menas.

  The bookstore renovations have come at a time when other aspects of the school, such as the lockers, hallway walls and gyms, have also been remodeled or repainted.

  “Ultimately, the main goal was to make sure our store was keeping up with all of the other updates happening around the building as well as with featuring the new [school] logos and colors. We wanted a new look that enhanced the shopping experience of anyone stopping in,” said Menas.

  The FBLA store manager, Colin Geary, senior, pitched the remodeling idea to the administrative board. After the pitch was accepted, the $10,000 remodeling construction began and was paid for with assistance from the school as well as through FBLA fundraisers and from store profits.

  “FBLA is very excited to have our new and improved Mustang Spirit Store up and running for the new school year, and we can’t wait to see the Mundelein community in there checking out all the new improvements,” said Geary. “We’d love to have everyone in the MHS community to come in and check out all of the improvements.”

  Menas said Geary was “the mastermind behind a lot of the plan.”

  “Colin had some amazing ideas with a great vision of what the store should look like,” she said. “He decided on every piece, color, material and more that was going in the store. He even stopped in a lot over the summer to check on things and make sure everything was running smoothly.”

  Another goal of the remodeling project was to improve the shopping experience.

  “We are also excited that it features a new sound system and speakers to play music as people shop for their MHS merchandise,” said Menas.

  The purpose of the remodeling was also to offer cleaner and more organized spaces for the products to be sold, as previously the store had tight walking space for browsing. Now the store has new shelving, new carpeting and a dressing room.

  “FBLA’s goal was, and has always been, for the spirit store to be presented as a small business orientated around selling spirit wear to the MHS community,” said Geary. “While designing the floor plan for the new spirit store, we tried to get it close to a small store you’d find in a shopping mall, like Hawthorn Mall in Vernon Hills.”

  FBLA also turned to other schools for examples.

  “We took inspiration from other renovated school stores and were trying for a more “college spirit store” atmosphere– something that looked clean and nice and incorporated the school colors,” said Menas.

  In addition to revamping the school’s physical space, FBLA members also took the opportunity to revamp product offerings.  

  Before the changes, FBLA members said the store offered only two or three brands of clothing and a limited number of products.

  The store now has new items for the football games that match with Red Rage themes, including t-shirts, sweatshirts and sweatpants–many with Mundelein sayings on them.

  “We also hope to continue to get new merchandise to match Mundelein’s new branding,”said Geary.

  Geary also sought to offer more brand names. Now students can buy clothing items from such sports brands as Nike and Adidas.

  With the goal of having the remodeling done for the first day of school, FBLA members said they are happy with the results.

  “I, as well as the rest of FBLA, am thrilled with how it turned out,” said Geary. “It’s exactly how I envisioned it to be if not better. Not only does it seem like a much more professional atmosphere, but it seems the MHS community is much more interested in coming in and browsing through our merchandise.”

Gallery • 3 Photos

A view of the new, updated school store.