The athletics department partnered with MyLocker, an online company that makes custom apparel, to launch the school’s first official merchandise store at the beginning of this month. 

The website sells various products including shirts, sweatshirts, bags, shorts and hats printed or embroidered with the school’s new logos.

Assistant principal Eric Mapes, athletic director Craig Best and assistant athletic director Megan Hernandez have spent the past year putting the store together.

“It’s something that we’ve been wanting for a while,” Mapes said.  “It took someone like Mr. Best who was determined to make it happen.”

The store is still being updated with new products, Best said. Of the items currently on the website, most come in more than one color and text can be customized with names, jersey numbers and sports.

Both Mapes and Best want the store to serve as a resource for the community beyond students and parents.

English teacher and ASB advisor Mercedes Foster said the online store offers students outside of sports and clubs the opportunity to purchase spiritwear that has not been easily available in the past.

“There’s an awful lot of people who are [not athletes or in groups] that might like to celebrate their school, and they deserve to,” Foster said.

Mapes said that he wants to do anything he can to promote school and community pride, and the store was an offshoot of that desire.

“I wanted that opportunity for people in the community to be proud of where they’re from,” Mapes said. “It doesn’t have to be purple or say ‘Piedmont High School.’”

“If you’re sitting next to someone wearing the same shirt at a football game, you’re immediately a part of a community,” Best said.

The school receives 10 to 12 percent of each sale, Best said. All of the profits go into the general athletic fund, which covers costs such as league dues, transportation and uniforms for all sports.

The athletic department, which is currently running a budget deficit, will benefit from sales, but will still rely on parent donations.

“I don’t anticipate this to be a big moneymaker, but I didn’t spend any school money and I’m going to get money on every transaction, so why wouldn’t I do it?” Best said.

Best has been working with MyLocker on ways to spread awareness and promote use of the store. He is waiting for coupons to hand out to students in order to generate interest for the store.

“The only downside in my opinion is that it’s a little pricey, but if we can get those coupons out, and get [people] buying our logoed stuff, it will bring together a community,” Best said.

Best chose MyLocker because the company sells single products and ships them straight to the customer’s home,  which increases costs and takes responsibility off of the staff members who would have to distribute the merchandise. This model also prevents over-purchasing inventory that might not be sold.

ASB is familiar with over-purchasing shirts, which is why they decided to make this year’s homecoming shirts only available to students who preordered online, said ASB’s Web Publicity Coordinator senior Tyler Ellis.

“If you maybe didn’t want a homecoming shirt and just want a Piedmont shirt, that is now an option [with the online store], which it wasn’t before,” Ellis said.

In addition to the online store, Best and Mapes have been discussing the possibility of a physical storefront on the school campus, Best said. Mapes’s goal is to open the store by second semester, although he is currently focused on making the online store function at full strength.

“I’m looking for a spot that is ideally centralized on campus,” Mapes said.

Possible locations include spaces in the theater or the student center, in an area easily accessible to students. A rolling kiosk is also a possibility, Mapes said.

The on-campus store would be a joint venture between ASB, who would manage the storefront, and the athletic department, who would bring in merchandise, Mapes said. Profits would be split between the two so that all of the money goes back to students through sports and ASB functions.

ASB plans to sell overstock of class shirts from previous years as well as other spirit items such as bumper stickers and, Ellis said.

“We’re not exactly sure how much it’s going to be open or what items we’re going to have, but we’re talking to the administration and we’re really excited about the idea,” Ellis said.

To prevent overlap between the stores, the online store would continue to sell apparel and the on-campus store would sell Piedmont pens, pencils and other school supplies, Foster said.

“We’re really enthusiastic about ASB getting involved and finding ways to pump everybody up,” Foster said.