Shop the Loop organizers have geared up to make this year’s event a destination for attendees and entrepreneurs alike.
Taylor’s semi-annual shopping event will take place at the Bond Plaza on Oct. 21. It will welcome several new businesses in addition to returning vendors like Teal Family Maple, Adorned Lettering Co. and Restore Hope, Claire Michel, president of Taylor's Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA), said.
“Most of the vendors are selling jewelry, art, baked goods and clothes,” she said.
Shop the Loop will take place during Taylor’s Homecoming event, when family visitors, alumni and others will meet together once again to celebrate.
Donna Downs, associate professor of communication, said former student Leah Selk (‘21) came up with the idea in an event and venue planning class. Karen McTague, the professor of the class, helped the dream become a reality.
The event allows people to buy back into the university in regard to understanding the creativity, the talent and the abilities students have, Downs said.
Students are involved by selling their own goods. Sophomore Lextin Willis sold his product CordPuck last year and said he was able to get a lot of publicity and sales.
“Through Shop the Loop, I was able to meet the people who are in charge of entrepreneurship here on campus, and from there, I built those relationships,” Willis said. “Now I'm able to work with them, and they've done a whole lot for me and my business.”
One of those mentors is Mick Bates, director of Innovation and Entrepreneurship and professor at Taylor. He had previously met Willis before he saw his setup at Shop the Loop.
Bates said that Shop the Loop changed Willis.
“He got some customer feedback on his product and what it offered and made some adjustments from that,” Bates said. “It also helped him stress his manufacturing process.”
Downs’ favorite aspect of Shop the Loop is seeing the creativity of students and the work they invest in what they believe. Her students on the PRSSA executive cabinet are responsible for hosting Shop the Loop. There is also another larger student group that helps on the day of the event.
Public relations students have learned about how to plan, budget and manage projects during the process, Downs said. This hands-on involvement would be tied to some important goals for the major.
“It's basically this whole thing of being a planned process to influence public opinion,” Downs said.
Taylor encourages its students to sell at Shop the Loop as a learning experience that will grow and equip them for the future.
Jody Hirschy, an associate dean of business and leadership, is a huge advocate for experiential learning because it allows a person to test the waters.
“Those students who are engaged in opportunities such as Shop the Loop are the type of students who say ‘yes’ and take a little risk and try something new,” Hirschy said. “I think that's a really valuable skill set to have.”
