It is common hour at LIU Post and students swirl around on the main floor with food in hand. But one level up The Student Body boutique is quiet; the current sales featuring discounts of 30 to 50 percent on clothing items do not seem the whet the appetite of already eating students. Not most of them, anyway.

”Someone actually came in and bought something,” cashier Bianca Larenas said with a humorous undertone. No longer alone in the store, Larenas had to put away her iPad for a brief second. "It’s for marketing purposes,” she said, pointing at her hand-held device, explaining that she was in charge of posting on the store’s social media accounts.

The clothing boutique opened in September 2013 as the first in a series of student-run businesses on campus, according to a Newsday interview. Andrew Rosman, former dean of the College of Management, said that any profits are going back to the college via scholarships and other activities supportive of students.

But what about the student-run businesses’ bottom line?

”We aim to give each and every student involved a better, hands-on understanding of the workings of a business,” Tamir Dayya, special projects coordinator of The Student Body, said. Since Dayya took over in late 2013, new venues have opened as part of the program and the number of student employees has increased from eight to approximately 40.

Larenas is part of the committee composed of student workers and administration, personnel that meets weekly to discuss clothing and ways to better the boutique. A mass email was sent out by the end of spring semester to all LIU students for feedback, hinting that the boutique is in process of revising its collection of clothing items.

Dayya said the products, ranging from seasonal clothes for both men and women to accessories and perfumes, are being purchased at a trade show in New York City and are therefore competitively priced to beat any other vendor.

”We’re so confident in this that we will price match if a lower price is found,” he said. The prices vary from a low of $3 nail polish to $100 for a handbag.

The student-run business program aids in the development of The Student Body, Post Treat Shoppe (candy store), The End Zone (a dry bar), and the Pratt Smoothie Bar, according to Dayya. But Dayya would not reveal whether the boutique contributes any money toward the project budget.

"Just like any other business, we aim to make money as well,” Dayya said.

Dayya’s vision for the boutique is to attract not only the student, but eventually have outside customers come to LIU Post.

Kaitlin Veygel, a junior Broadcasting major at Post, believes the project is good practice for students, but does not see the boutique as comparable with similar stores in neighboring towns.

"Instead of putting these kids in actual stores where if they screw up an entire business can be destroyed,” Veygel said, ”at least they learn how an unappreciated business works.”