Rowe’s student entrepreneurs sell goods and goodies at third annual PopUp Shop

Business is booming at R. Roger Rowe School.

On Dec. 9, the school hosted the third season of PopUp Shop, where 130 student entrepreneurs in grades 3-5  sold their products in a busy marketplace set up in the campus courtyard. The event featuring 50 student microbusinesses served as a celebration of the real-life business skills that students learned this fall.

At the PopUp, student shops sold a variety of merchandise, from 3-D printed goods to items custom-made out of wood. There was raspberry lemonade, baked treats and food bouquets, handmade jewelry, sports memorabilia and mystery “Blind Bags” which could contain anything from a trinket to a Labubu—students sold out of 50 Blind Bags in an hour and a half. A shop selling customized slushies and snow cones turned out to be a hit on an 80-degree December day.

When the students close up shop, profits will be donated to the charity of their choice.

“These kids are completely engaged,” remarked teacher Steve Riviere in a video interview during the PopUp. “I love the energy and I know it’s some of the favorite, favorite moments the kids have all year long.”

The PopUp Shop program began three years ago, brought to Rowe by elementary school Principal and Director of Curriculum Joe Erpelding. Every year, participation has grown.

Starting in October, interested students attend multiple lunchtime learning sessions run by Erpelding and then must apply as a business partnership with at least one other team member. Over the course of the following weeks, the students develop and design their microbusiness, attending sessions to talk about identifying consumer needs, learning about the costs of goods, understanding profit margins, marketing skills and how to give a proper business pitch.

Parents sign an agreement that they are participating in the student’s start-up.

Erpelding said a unique part of the program this year was that students were given a seed investment of “RoweBucks”, worth up to $300.

“There was a menu of things and they had to make decisions on how best to invest their seed money,” Erpelding said. The young entrepreneurs could opt to use RoweBucks to buy prime real estate in the courtyard for the PopUp, advertise their business during school-wide Friday announcements, and buy posters or electricity for their shops. RoweBucks had to be spent to purchase the table and chairs used during the PopUp.

The day before the PopUp Shop was a Pitch Day assembly where each business showed off their product marketing with slides, slogans and micro-commercials, getting fellow students hyped up to come and shop.

“They’re just learning so many different things around collaboration, teamwork and how to pivot when products are not working,” Erpelding said. “They are learning nice, intuitive things around building an entrepreneurial mindset, problem-solving and how to create something that doesn’t exist.”

On PopUp day, Erpelding wore a t-shirt that read “Pivot” as a reminder to his “kidpreneurs” to make adjustments when needed and to keep rolling. That day, one student was distraught because their products were late in arriving to campus for the event. Older middle school students offered to help and the micro-business owner was able to get everything ready on time. Erpelding loved seeing older students who had been through the program lending a hand to their younger counterparts. While PopUp Shop is an elementary school program, the middle school has its own version in the spring, a Maker Fair connected with their electives.

“Now in its third year, PopUp Shop is kind of outgrowing me!” said Erpelding. The idea for next year is to tap into the experience and expertise of Rowe’s base of parent entrepreneurs. He would also like to focus on building an entrepreneurial mindset into the core instruction of reading, writing and math.

At that night’s Rancho Santa Fe School District board meeting, where board member Paul Seitz had multiple purchased PopUp Shop products on the table in front of him, Superintendent Kim Pinkerton congratulated “Mr. E” on a successful season three.

“It was wonderful to see this program grow from 45 students in season one to 130 student entrepreneurs this year,” Pinkerton said. “We really have a special little something growing here.”