Impacks of St. Cloud was a start up business in 2020 aimed at helping both schools and parents accessing school supplies easily and at affordable prices.  Clare and Brandon Richards started Impacks in the basement of their home serving a few schools in 2020 and have expanded to serve 43 schools in Minnesota this school year with the expectation to expand to 300 schools next school year.

Clare Richards describes Impacks as  a tech-powered startup that simplifies the way parents and educators access critical supplies for students. She says they offer customized, prepackaged school supply kits tailored to each grade within a school to make back-to-school shopping easy and affordable for parents. Impacks has partnered with schools across the state of Minnesota and is currently expanding across the Upper Midwest.

This year Impacks signed a 10,000 square footage warehouse lease in Waite Park, hired 3 sales people, and expanded their client base outside of Minnesota. Clare says they've learned many lessons over the past three years, and have been able to hone their offering to better suit parents and schools.

Impacts is partnering with District 742 and Coborns/Cashwise for next school year where parents and families can purchase school supplies from Coborns on Cooper in St. Cloud and Cashwise in both Waite Park and east St. Cloud this summer.  Richards expects this to launch in mid July.

The business is rooted in a social-impact model, which is demonstrated by our donation match and fundraising programs. More info on the business here: https://www.myimpacks.com.

If you'd like to listen to my conversation with Clare Richards it is available below.

 

 

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