Students Teach Merchants About the Price of Success

When Patrick and Karen Tatone recently decided to reward kids who brought home good report cards, the couple had no idea they were putting their new business into a financial hole.

Now, two weeks and $75,000 worth of gift certificates later, the Glendora clothiers say it will take months to overcome the losses from their goodwill plan. Still, they’re glad they did it.

“It was a fun thing,” Patrick Tatone said. “We love Glendora, and we don’t want anyone to feel sorry for us.”

It all started when the couple’s two sons, Jonathan, 17, and Nicholas, 13, received good report cards from Glendora High School and Goddard Middle School. Their father was eager to reward not only them, but other young scholars--including college students--who earned good grades.

The Tatones had opened Street Rags, a tiny shop on North Glendora Avenue that sells casual school clothes, in March. To honor good grades and provide an incentive for future achievement, the couple decided to offer $50 gift certificates to all students--in or outside Glendora--who earned a 4.0 grade-point average during the recent quarter, $25 certificates for a 3.5 to 3.99 GPA like their sons had, and $15 certificates for a 3.0 to 3.49 GPA.

Tatone placed a notice announcing the offer in his shop window; he also sent several notices to school with Nicholas. Tatone’s plan was to spread news of the offer primarily by word of mouth.

“My hope was to encourage kids to do well in school,” Tatone said. “I was upset with all the negative that you hear about kids--gangs, drive-by shootings. You never hear about the good.”

Two students showed up at his store with report cards in hand on April 25, followed by 12 more the next day. Then the roof fell in.

“There were 80 on Tuesday,” he said. Then scores of students started showing up every day. “I thought it would never end.”

When it finally did end, an estimated 3,000 students--there are 6,866 students in the Glendora Unified School District’s 10 schools--had taken advantage of the Tatones’ generosity and received free clothing. A fifth were from outside Glendora, Tatone said.

On Monday, the offer was discontinued because students began bringing in report cards that had been photocopied, scribbled over and whited out, Tatone said.

Nonetheless, he considers the program a success.

“I had no idea the response would be so overwhelming. One of the teachers announced it at Sandburg Middle School, and I thought, ‘Oh, no.’

“I had little kids in here shaking my hand, saying, ‘How can you afford to do this?’ People were concerned about me and thankful as well. Many said they would come back, not out of pity but because this was an honest, no-gimmick, no-nonsense offer.”

He added, “I had no idea there were so many smart kids in Glendora.”

For awhile, Tatone said, he feared that the huge response would drive him into insolvency. He had to borrow money to order enough merchandise for all the kids who showed up. And he has a “fairly serious credit problem now,” he said, because he was forced to put off other creditors. But he sees it as a temporary setback that he hopes to resolve with about four months of good business.

One student who achieved perfect grades was Brendan Simon, a sixth-grader at Sandburg. Simon brought in his report card and picked out a pair of shorts and a cap.

“I try to get good grades because I want to do well later in life,” said Brendan, who heard about the offer from friends at school. “But this really makes me want to do well.”

Patrick Bushman, superintendent of the Glendora Unified School District, praised the Tatones’ effort.

“This is an excellent expression of appreciation for our schools,” Bushman said, “It is great to see this type of school-business partnership. It is certainly an outstanding positive reinforcement for our students.

“We continue to encourage any local business to be involved with us in recognizing student achievement.”

The Tatones also can look at the gift certificates as the best public relations they could have bought. The store’s daily customer base has increased from a handful to about 30.

So will they repeat the offer next quarter?

“I wouldn’t do it the same way again,” Tatone said. “We’ll do something, though. We may give a discount next time, like 30% off for a 4.0, 20% off for a 3.5 and so on. Thirty percent is still a significant incentive.”

Tatone added: “I had kids come in who just missed a 3.0. They told me they would work harder next quarter. I really and truly think our efforts will have an impact.”