School Of Stores researches how existing businesses work and uses that knowledge to design new businesses—especially stores—that people can understand, improve, start, purchase, and operate. A major goal is to develop businesses that can be organized as cooperatives from the beginning, with the information needed to operate them assembled into practical systems that groups can potentially crowdfund and put into use. Some Kinds Of Stores are familiar businesses, while others explore new models, including Flying Car Stores, Restaurant Stores, and Theme Park Attraction Stores.
The project develops this work through research, Catalogs, and the Studio. Catalogs organize business ideas, products, services, opportunities, and operating information into collections that can become increasingly useful for starting or participating in real businesses. The Studio is where School Of Stores develops the visual, media, product, and business-design work that supports those efforts. School Of Stores also develops its own Signature Brands, including Atlas Of Paradise and Revolution Acres, which bring related Kinds Of Stores and business ideas together around broader themes.
School Of Stores is also intended to be something people can work on together. Local Workshop Hosts can help organize workshops and working sessions where participants use School Of Stores research, computers, and other resources to explore a Kind Of Store, develop a business idea, investigate opportunities in its wider ecosystem, or work toward a real cooperative venture. Over time, the goal is to connect research, education, design, crowdfunding, and local participation so that an idea on a page can become something people are actually prepared to operate together.