Students have 4 weeks (21 lessons) of classroom preparation prior to their JA BizTown^® visit, plus 2 lessons of follow-up activities to reinforce their experiences.

As part of classroom preparation, each shop group develops its own business plan, including calculating payroll expenses, advertising, accounting services, materials, rent, taxes, and utilities.

Each group also completes a business loan application, writes a radio and newspaper advertisement, names their shop, designs a shop sign and logo, and creates a business slogan.

The students also write an information article containing school or community news that will be submitted to a radio station or newspaper.