March 2017 Editor's Note: This post was originally published in October 2016 and has been updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness.
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Guest Blogger: Taylor Pfyffer, Cameron School of Business, Marketing - Professional Selling Concentration, Class of 2017
It all started with the Cameron School of Business Spring Break Prague Consulting Project. Upon joining the consulting team, I joined the others in diving head first into our analysis and recommendations for our client company, Hamleys.
Hamleys is based out of London and holds the title of the oldest toy store in the world! Hamleys was looking to expand and made its way to Prague, Czech Republic to open its new flagship store: the largest toy store in Central Europe. The roughly 66,000 square foot store came fully equipped with a carousel, racetrack, giant piano, and slide from the top to bottom floor.
Our consulting team worked tirelessly throughout the semester and at last traveled to Prague to present our work to the executives of Hamleys. I don’t know that I have ever been more proud of a project in my life. The executives loved our work and valued our consulting at half a million euros!
This short time in Europe was the first time I had ever left the United States…and talk about culture shock! Europe was beautiful, and had so much history to explore. I fell in love, especially with Prague.
After returning to the U.S., I emailed the executives to inquire of any internship positions they might be offering, and expressed that I would like to be considered if so. To my excitement, Hamleys offered a fellow UNCW student and myself to join their team as their summer marketing interns.
A summer internship…in Prague….working in a massive toy shop. It didn’t get much better than that! I spent my summer working on product portfolio suggestions, translations, and managing the Hamleys Twitter account, along with many other tasks (including playing with the toys). All the while, I was learning about the Czech culture. I was even able to travel on some of the weekends to Italy and Spain. Castles, islands, oceans, hiking, and food! Food, food, and more food! I ate so much gelato it’s silly.
All in all, I am incredibly fortunate for the experiences that I had both over spring break and this summer. Both trips were full of memories that I will never forget! I thank the Cameron School of Business, UNCW, my professors, and Hamleys for making this possible!
