In 2018, Marist’s MPorium moved up and out from Donnelly Hall to its very own space in the Steel Plant, giving fashion and business students an opportunity to experience what it’s like to run a store. Since the spring of 2019, Professor Brown has been in charge. It gives chosen students a sneak peak into the behind the scenes of what it takes to run a successful business. 

A boutique by students, for students, has expanded by giving shoppers an easy to use website, a promotion team, numerous photoshoots, delivery services and dozens of unique merch options. 

Items range from ready-to-wear to phone decals, with that so do prices.

With filling the store with such personable items it comes at a cost. Students on campus have expressed their inability to afford items such as sweatshirts and sweatpants from the MPorium. “It sucks that I can’t support the boutique because of the high prices, everything is so cute,” says Vincenza Casale 26’ regarding the prices. 

“ I don’t understand why something as simple as sweatpants are so expensive,” Casale adds. Another student, Sarah Loughlin 26 joins in “the pricing between merchandise doesn’t make sense, how is a denim jacket $64 and a crewneck is $80.”

Students have expressed that instead of buying a crewneck from MPorium, “it makes more sense to purchase something cheaper, and possibly something that has better quality,” Loughlin contributes. 

Rebecca Brown, the director of MPorium responds to students’ concerns. “ MPorium is self-funding, so no one is profiting, our profits go back into the store, scholarships, and sponsored students at conferences such as NRF,”

“We operate by shopping the market, [making] sure we price things within range, as well as taking into consideration things like how unique our items are, and the fact that it is not mass produced.” Brown expresses

Items in the store have a range of up to 50% markups, giving enough of a margin for a profit which goes back into running the boutique. With items such as pimple patches or small hair clips, the store puts a smaller markup whereas sweatshirts would have a larger one based on the cost it comes out to be. 

“ So under a 50 percent margin. But again, I have the cost of running a store [and] in reality, it looks like it’s expensive, but it’s actually in line and in some cases less than industry standard from a markup percent.” Brown responds when asked about how much of a margin she uses for each product the store sells. 

There are multiple teams that are involved in the execution of MPorium. Buying, marketing, visual merch, e-commerce, finance, and store operations are just a few. Brown directs the buyers to ask themselves questions when deciding on a price for an item. “ Does that fit into the margin structure? Does it fit into what the cost is? Where are we at?” 

MPorium prides itself in sourcing locally, printers from Newbourgh, owning their own label River+Stone, and buying from local wholesalers, further supporting their sustainability mission.