Good morning and welcome to the first post in our SLOCA Gift Guides 2021! This year is going to look slightly different as, like the rest of the world, global supply chain shortages are still impacting our ability to order items and have them arrive in a timely manner. The good news is that we are thinking outside the box and encourage you to do so too this year. Up first, we would like to remind you of our Den at SLOCA and let you know of some of the new and improved items that have come in for the holidays!
Our school store and library at SLOCA are together referred to lovingly as the Den. The Den is a cozy place for you to grab a cup of coffee, gather with friends, meet other parents, read a book, and simply hang out. New to SLOCA this year is our lovely Den manager Michele Stevens.
Michele just joined us in July from Southern California, where she previously ran a Theatre Program for youth ages 6-18. She is a book-a-holic! Even after purging books to make her move easier, she still managed to bring 20 boxes of books with her! SLO has been her vacation spot for many years as she has family members living in the area, and she always dreamed of living here someday. She is grateful to have found SLOCA – a place whose mission, vision and values she admires, and she loves working in the bookstore and interacting with the community. She has especially enjoyed getting to interact with the students as they purchase their snacks, and is now proud to add “Jedi Snack Master” to her resume.
This year we have also streamlined our snack cards and also introduced new and improved gift cards! The snack cards are kept at the Den for students and staff BUT the great news is that these are reloadable online from the Den website so you don’t have to come in! Michele and her Den volunteers will make sure that the snack card balances are updated with your online purchase. The other good news is that our gift cards are now able to be purchased online as well. My (Wei) personal favorite is to include a gift card to the Den as part of a teacher gift. It helps support our school and also helps with any impromptu coffee or kombucha desires your teacher may have during the day!
Coffee, hot tea, apple cider, cocoa, and refreshing Whalebird kombucha are available for purchase in the store. We sell SLOCA mugs, water bottles, and glass jars and growlers, so you can save a little bit of plastic while representing our school. We also sell bottled drinks, chips, granola bars, and other snacks.
This year we are continuing to use our outside table and chairs, and are sanitizing them in between users. It is a great place to grab a beverage, meet up with other SLOCA people AND support our school! Even though it’s not in the building, we still ask that you model a balanced relationship with technology – put your phones and laptops away. (You are welcome to use your laptop in the Lo-Fi Lounge.)
We have worked hard to stock the store with everything you need for your home days – required curriculum, supplemental books and materials, and supplies. We also have beautiful gifts, classics for you or to enjoy with your children, math and science materials, art supplies, games, shirts, hats, water bottles, tote bags, and more. We get new stuff often, and you just never know what you will find in the store. We do our best to offer quality, educationally rich items at the lowest prices we can manage (about 10% below retail most of the time.) We also have a cart outside with some discounted items, and a few used books. We have SLOCA gear in many sizes and designs, too.
The Den will be open till late on December 7th for History Training, so drop by, or pre-order for pick up, your gifts for the holidays and support our community!
