This year, sales have more than doubled for the Hop Shop, GDS’ student-run snack store, due to increased community interest and frequent restocks. The Hop Shop has begun efforts to expand employment opportunities and broaden its reach to students.
When the Hop Shop reopened after the COVID pandemic, it encountered supply chain snags and limited employee interest. This year, however, the Hop Shop has seen a rise in student interest.
Chief executive officer junior Sawyer Thompson estimated that in 2022, the Hop Shop’s most profitable month saw $1,100 in revenue. This year the shop made over $2,700 in revenue in both November and December. All profits are used for charitable donations or restocks.
Thompson is the newsletter manager for the Bit.
The Hop Shop’s revenue is mainly used for charity, but half of its revenue is used to restock and decorate the store. Recently, the shop made a donation of $750 to the D.C.-based non-profit Martha’s Table.
The revitalized store has been thriving and “creating a community,” according to chief operating officer junior Isaac Seiken.
Seiken told the Bit that employee trustworthiness is a problem. “There are suspicions of people stealing food,” he said. “The person responsible for stealing would be banned from the Hop Shop and their fingerprint removed from the shop’s system,” he added. The perpetrator, however, would not be reported to the administration.
According to Thompson, two employees were accused of stealing food and were banned from the Hop Shop. He declined to share their names or details of the cases.
Thompson and Seiken told the Bit that one issue the shop has is that it is not open enough throughout the day. According to Seiken, the shop doesn’t have enough employees to cover morning and afternoon flex and all four periods in a day.
The Hop Shop currently has 17 employees, most of them juniors, but is looking to branch out to different grades. “Selection is based on general trustworthiness, being responsible for the product and free periods,” chief financial officer and junior Bryan Berman said.
Seiken, through the Hop Shop email account, sent an email with an official employment application on Jan. 29 The application asks for a name, phone number, free period and a reason for wanting to be an employee. Hop Shop employees are compensated in service hours.
Thompson said that before the application was sent out, employees could get a job by talking to the Hop Shop management. “If anybody pestered us enough, they could get a job,” Thompson said.
Seiken told the Bit that the Hop Shop is building a mobile ordering site which is expected to be available by late spring or early fall this year, and they plan to start having stands at GDS sporting events.
Junior Shiraz Benyoucef, an employee at the Hop Shop, explained that the store is a place for the student body to gather. “People might just like it because it’s cheap, but that is not the goal,” she said.
Benyoucef told the Bit that the goal is for the community to come together to support a good cause. She envisions the Hop Shop’s potential to be as great as the Sidwell Fox Den, a sit-down cafe located at the Sidwell Friends School. “With lower prices, of course,” she added.
According to freshman Erica Piper, who frequents the shop, a core attribute is the low prices. However, Piper said that she doesn’t believe the Hop Shop is vital to the GDS community and is just a place for better prices than the vending machines.
“The shop is a good alternative to the vending machine, and it’s fun to have a student-run shop,” sophomore John Morsberger said.