Each year, women in the Ole Miss community spend part of August shopping for one of the most popular game day traditions — dressing up for the Grove.
To help streamline the shopping experience, My Favorite Shoes, a shop on the Square, has introduced Grove Kits — baskets filled with this year’s most popular game day accessories for women.
“Everyone buys these things separately, so why not make it a package deal,” Laura Carroll, a sales associate and University of Mississippi graduate, said. “At least for me and my friends, right before games we’re scrambling around like, ‘Oh! I forgot about a clear purse or I forgot about a strap.’ This way everything would be like a one-stop shop.’”
Available items include gingham bows, earrings, beaded purse straps, a clear game-day purse, Hotty Toddy necklaces, metal tumblers, stadium approved cups and more. There are three curated Grove Kit options available, ranging from $165 to $300, and an option to build a custom Grove Kit within a specified budget.
Susan Vance has owned My Favorite Shoes for 21 years. Vance talked about the evolution of game day style.
“In the 21 years I’ve been here, there’s always been that wave of fashion where the girls tried to have the red and blue on, but then someone started up each ball game having a certain color. That seems like when (everybody really started to go) the extra mile to have the right color for the football games,” Vance said. “Right now, wearing red or white boots is a big thing. I am focused intentionally on (purchasing) anything I can that’s either powder blue or red for football weekends.”
In addition to being an effort to keep up with the latest trends, Vance said the Grove Kits are an initiative to keep up with the evolving student body.
“We realized that all of these stores have sorority and Greek gear,” Vance said. “I thought, there are people that don’t (go Greek), but they would like to get a surprise happy for starting Ole Miss. We thought, let’s do a Grove Kit.”
Students have also had to adapt to the evolving Grove fashion scene and campus culture in recent years. While many said they enjoy the process, they also noted an increase in pressure and cost.
“I would come here all the time when I was younger, and I remember I would just wear jeans and a hoodie, but now that I’m actually in college here, it’s definitely a big deal,” Rachel Phillips, an integrated marketing communications major from Jackson, Tenn., said.
Lauren Doerger, a psychology major from Cincinnati, agreed with Phillips.
“I think you would get looked down upon if you came in jeans,” Doerger said. “I feel like when you see everyone else there’s a big social pressure to be wearing the dresses and the boots and looking your best.”
While Doerger said she spends less money now preparing for the Grove when compared to freshman year, Phillips said she spends more.
“I probably spend more now because I know how big of a deal it is and how important it is,” Phillips said. “I also wear a lot of my friend’s clothes, so that helps with the cost.”
As for Grove Kits, purchasing the items as a set does not reduce the total cost but alleviates some of that pre-game day stress, Carroll said.
“You just grab the Grove Kit, and it’s everything and there’s everything done,” Carroll said. “I think the items we have in it are the most affordable around the Square, so in that sense, it makes it easy. You know what you are getting for your money.”
Doerger and Phillips agreed with Carroll and said the Grove Kit would have helped them their freshman year.
“I think coming in as a freshman, that would have been so helpful to have it all in one place,” Doerger said.
Olivia Loos, a freshman paralegal studies major from New Jersey, was excited about the Grove Kit idea and shared her feelings about shopping for game days.
“It’s been pretty fun,” Loos said. “I feel like we’ve never never really experienced something like this before, so there’s definitely a little bit of confusion, but it’ll be fun planning everything out.”
Vance reiterated the store’s ability to work within various price ranges.
“If they say, ‘we only want to spend $100,’ then we can make suggestions to what we have that’s $100 worth,” Vance said. “Especially for a dad that’s coming into town, and he doesn’t know what to get.”
Vance thanks not only football season, but also the university’s growth and record-breaking freshman class sizes for the steady stream of business. While official enrollment numbers are set to come out in November, this year’s freshman class brought around 6,000 students to campus.
“As long as our football team is doing well, we really grow, but also with the school growing the freshman class — it keeps getting bigger every year — it makes it great for retailers,” Vance said.
