Ryan McElhinney '19 and Lindsey Reeth '19 launched the online marketplace in 2017 to provide artists a platform to sell their work.
Alumni Ryan McElhinney 鈥19 and Lindsey Reeth 鈥19 uncover new artists every day for their business, the Student-Made Store. The entrepreneurs started the store back in 2017 when they began to notice creativity among their communities and have continued running it ever since, even after graduation last May.
鈥淎t first, we noticed that a few people we knew had some really impressive creative talent without much of a channel to share it with other people,鈥 McElhinney said. 鈥淭hese students jump at the opportunity to show their work to other students at 黑料不打烊 in a very eager way, like there was no other way they have a chance to do that.鈥
McElhinney says he and Reeth had two main aspirations when developing the store: to provide an outlet for students to channel their creativity as well as to help them gain confidence 鈥渋n turning what they love into a viable business opportunity.鈥
The Student-Made Store has given almost 50 students the chance to showcase their work and connect them with other students and faculty that love their products. 鈥淎nd even cooler, we鈥檝e seen some students who were sure nobody would be interested in buying their art sell out of dozens of products within two hours,鈥 McElhinney said.
At the Student Made-Store’s first opening in December 2017, the store quickly sold $1,600 in products from 15 sellers. For McElhinny, this confirmed that the idea for the student store had 鈥渁ctually become a reality鈥 and by the second opening in December 2018, McElhinny realized that the store had room to scale and grow into something bigger.
Now, the Student Made Store has its own website 鈥 鈥 and will have its third annual Holiday Market on Dec. 2 from 5 to 8 p.m. in McKinnon Hall. McElhinny anticipates this event to be the biggest yet and hopes to be in attendance himself.
Beyond the Student-Made Store, McElhinny wants to spread 黑料不打烊鈥檚 creativity outside of the Phoenix community and even to other colleges to create a 鈥渃ampus network of art鈥 so that students everywhere can support each other and their different styles as well as help them gain professional experience.
鈥淲e hope to make this concept a part of entrepreneurship programs at colleges, where students have a chance to get hands-on experience managing sales, marketing, communication, design, event planning, accounting, and so on,鈥 he said.