So what started as a place for students to get their snack fix turned into a 19-store operation across campus, offering everything from food to notebooks, medicine to clothing.

Sparty’s Convenience Store was born.

And now, 20 years later, Sparty’s is celebrating its 20th birthday.

“We’re always continuing to grow,” Sparty’s service manager Joe Garza said.

From the beginning

In 1991, Sparty’s was known as Sparty’s Convenience and More Store.

After studying how other convenience stores created a successful business, the managers of Sparty’s began searching for merchandise. Managers met with companies such as Coca-Cola Co.
and PepsiCo Inc. to provide beverages for the stores. They soon contacted the Frito-Lay company to supply other snacks to line the shelves in the stores.

“Students were becoming more grab-and-go,” Garza said. “They wanted something that fit more with their on-the-go lifestyle.”

Management then added other miscellaneous items students might need — greeting cards, pencils, blue books used for taking exams, medicine, T-shirts and many other necessities.

Garza said students are the source of ideas for what to put in the stores, but he even used his own experience at home to add headphones to the list.

“My own teenage daughter goes through (headphones),” he said. “This is kind of an item people need all the time and tend to lose.”

Along with supplying students goods, Sparty’s also hires many student employees for its various shops around campus.

Kinesiology sophomore Danielle Wilson said she enjoys working as a student at Sparty’s because it allows her to customize her schedule around school.

“They’ll ask you when your classes are, and if there’s a problem, they’ll do whatever you need,” she said.

Sparty’s also offers school supplies to help students better prepare for their classes, Garza said.

At the beginning of the school year, Sparty’s brings in a supply of backpacks to sell to students.

Officials hope to supply students with everything they might not be able to get immediately, living in the dorms.

“We look at things students need in their everyday life,” Garza said.

Catching on

Garza’s phone is always off the hook.

While planning the construction of the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum — located near the Student Service’s Building — administrators contacted Garza hoping to add a Sparty’s in the museum.
“Anytime there’s new construction (on campus), they give us a call,” he said.

The 20th location — Sparty’s Café ­— will reopen after renovations this fall in Brody Hall.

Garza said the stores hope to provide all the necessities for students across campus at a convenient location.

“We’re kind of like the corner store,” he said. “People can run downstairs, grab what they need and go back up to their rooms.”

Garza said the store will begin rebranding, classifying stores by the specific services they offer. He said certain stores will have unique amenities and be labeled under three different categories — Sparty’s Café, Sparty’s Express and Sparty’s Refresh. New features include a grill in the Hubbard Hall Sparty’s and a pizza parlor in the planned Brody Hall Sparty’s.

He said Sparty’s hopes to complete its rebranding the fall.

Workers wanted

With several locations, Sparty’s employs an average of 500 student employees and always is looking to hire more.

In the fall of 2010, communication sophomore Alex Dewitt began working at Sparty’s. Employers were very flexible and accommodating assigning shifts around the students’ school schedules, she said.

As a crew leader, Dewitt felt that the skills she learned working at Sparty’s have helped her in the long run, she said.

“It’s helped me a lot with time management,” she said. “It’s definitely given me better skills working with people.”

Sparty’s employee Jasmine Johnson felt that the camaraderie among the workers made the job more fun. The theatre freshman felt that each person working at Sparty’s is a puzzle piece, with a successful workday as the end picture.

“At Sparty’s you work with a team,” she said. “No one’s job is more important than the other.”