GEDDES

At GEDDES , we make it our mission to supply students (and adults young at heart) with imaginative and affordable pens, pencils, mechanical pencils, erasers and other school supplies designed for school stores, classrooms, and education fund-raising.
Even if you haven't heard of GEDDES, you've very possibly seen our novelty pens and pencils in someone's hand, in the stationery supplies aisle at the department store, or near the cash register at your local gift store. You may have even used our school supplies when you were a student and not even realized it! We serve a wide variety of school personnel at almost every level.
* School store managers and supervisors of school supply stores
* K-12 grade school teachers and librarians
* Principals and Vice Principals
* Administrators and Super intendants for school districts
* PTA and PTO presidents and officers
* Education fund-raising groups and organizers of school fundraisers
* Student Council coordinators and leaders
* Student groups like FBLA and DECA
* College and University bookstores
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Becoming a School Store Authorityâ„¢
You wouldn't know it looking at us now, but when we started way back in 1924, our focus was the basic yellow #2 pencil and standard ballpoint stick pen. Don't believe us? Here's an order form from our early days. We supplied Baltimore-area, then Maryland-area, and eventually Mid-Atlantic elementary school and middle school students with the traditional writing supplies, paper supplies, and art supplies that everyone is so familiar with.
Over the many years of selling school supplies, the business expanded into helping schools set up a school store of their own. But teachers teach, after all. Their experience is in educating students, not running a business.
The company president at the time, Raymond Geddes Jr., believed a school store could be more than just a way to provide students with necessary school supplies. The school store could also be utilized as a tool for teaching communication skills, business, marketing, and entrepreneurship. Yet, he saw firsthand the challenges that kept most schools from providing such a service.
* How do we successfully run a school store and avoid common pitfalls?
* How do we plan and budget for time, resources, and finances?
* How do we keep records and inventory?
* How do we use school stores to teach students about business and general life skills?
Mr. Geddes put his experiences into writing and developed it into what is now known as our school store management guide - GEDDES School Stores: An Operating Manual. In fact, you can read Mr. Geddes' original introduction for the very first manual to get a sense of his background. This printed manual guides school personnel and school store volunteers on every aspect of a school store operation. Recently updated in 2007, we've made this manual available free of charge by customer request. Alongside our manual, additional content is accessible at raymondgeddes.com in the School Store Academy and School Store Lesson Plan Library areas of our site.
Download GEDDES School Stores: An Operating Manual. (PDF: 7MB) •••••••••••••••••••• •••••••••••••••••••• •••••••••••••••••••• •••••••••••••••••••• ••••••
VISIT US AT:www.raymondgeddes.com