Impacks: Revolutionizing School Supplies For Families Nationwide

ST. CLOUD (WJON News) -- It's the time of the year when families start the yearly task of gathering up all the back-to-school supplies their children need for their classroom.

You have the option of making several stops at stores all around town, or using the convenience of a St. Cloud-based start-up company for one-stop shopping in just a few minutes.

Clare and Brandon Richards launched Impacks in their basement in 2020.

Clare says they had a dream to positively impact students in their classrooms.

Convenient shopping for families

Parents can buy their child's school supplies specific to their classroom by using the Impacks website, then a kit is then shipped to their home or school.

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Clare says, according to the National Retail Federation, families spend over $140 a year on back-to-school supplies (or over $70 per student).

Our average kits are about $60-$65, and we use high-quality products, name brands like Crayola and Elmer's. But we really stick to the list that the teacher is specifically requesting.

She says they grew out of their basement quite quickly, then into part of a warehouse, before moving into a 10,000 square foot warehouse in Waite Park. However, because they are doubling and tripling the size of their operation every year, they now work with Granterion in Waite Park for all of their fulfillment distribution.

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When they launched five years ago, they started with four schools. Now, they are shipping school supply kits to 300 school partners in 26 states.

Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal has named Impacks one of the "Ten Startups to Watch".

Helping Teachers/Classrooms

Clare says they also want to help teachers make sure they have all the supplies they need for their classroom by working with schools to cover their needs.

They have an Impacks Donation Match Program.

During the checkout process, we ask parents to consider donating to their classrooms, and then we incentivize those parents by matching the first $5 donated.

She says schools will raise anywhere from a few hundred dollars to a few thousand dollars through that program. Teachers spend, on average, about $850 out of their own pockets to stock their classroom with needed supplies.

They've helped generate over $100,000 for schools across the country.

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Organizing School Supply Drives

Impacks also works with businesses and nonprofit organizations to help them modernize their school supply drives.

School supply drives have declined. The idea of putting school supplies in a cardboard box at the entrance of the building doesn't exist in the same way it used to. It's also not a great situation for the schools because it's not designed for what the schools actually need.

Impacks help organizations create a virtual school supply drive, and then source the items at wholesale prices.