For many of you that know me, you know how much I love The Style Shop. For many of you that don’t know, The Style Shop is a student run boutique that is located on 27th and the corner of 8th avenue, which is right on the FIT campus. Members of the Merchandising Society, which the longest club in existence at the college, are required to work one hour consistently at The Style Shop. This gives the members hands on experience in retail by costumer servicing, replenishing and cleaning the store, and using the cash wrap. Members that choose to get more involved in The Style Shop can work in one of the 12 teams that help make The Style Shop run smoothly. So, for me, I work on the Visual Merchandising team at the Assistant Manager. Other teams include Public Relations, Human Resources, Finance, and Social Media. There are also four buying teams (which I will expand on later) and those are Industry, Product Development, Vintage, and Designer. So, this will take us right in to the first reason as to why you need to shop at The Style Shop…

1.) The students are all able to have full hands on experience — Whether you just work your one hour per week or you work in one of the teams, you are always learning something new that you can take away to put toward the future. It’s also great for the students to put on their resume. I mean, I have!

2.) The students on the buying teams do such an amazing job with buying merchandise — Every buying team goes out of their way to find exclusive merchandise just for the store! As mentioned before I will expand on the buying teams…

Vintage — Products from second hand stores. The products range from casual wear to high end luxury products.
Industry — Products that are bought from wholesalers in NYC and also from trade shows.
Product Development — Products that are made by the team and only the team. For example, many know about the infamous Spirit Jersey. Yep, that’s Product Development!
Designer — Products that are made from students, faculty, and Alumni of FIT.

3.) It is every changing — As a member of the Visual Merchandising team, we do floor sets usually once a week. The buying teams go on buys very frequently as well. So, there is always new merchandise in the store ready to be purchased.

4.) The price points — In the store, the price points aren’t too heavy on the wallet. But you know what they say, you pay for what you get. If you’re looking for nice handmade leather goods, check out some products from the Designer team. They average around about $50 each. Also, some Vintage pieces can be a little pricey. But hey, you should expect to pay a little more for a vintage Celine or Prada as are in the store.

5.) The trends — The Style Shop does a very good job with getting the latest trends in the store. Fringe, suede, wide legged pants, patterns, etc. You name it, we have it!

6.) The time and effort that is put into this store — The students work very hard regardless of what they do. If they just work their hour, do floor sets, go on buys. So, if you walk into the store, just know we work really hard to make this store what it is today!

The store is open to the public and the hours are as follows:

Monday-Thursday: 9AM-9PM
Friday: 9AM-6PM

So, I hope, all in all that you are now convinced to come in and shop!