GLEN RIDGE — For a few hours on Feb. 4, Ridgewood Avenue was transformed into Madison Avenue.

The cafeteria at Ridgewood Avenue School turned into a bazaar, offering a wide array of goods and services, from cookies, fruit kebabs and crepes to soaps, candles, pet-care services and even slime-making kits — if that was your fancy.

What set this apart from other marketplaces? The 53 salespersons and CEOs all have day jobs as fourth, fifth and sixth graders.

It was the end result of "TREP$," a six-week after school program, designed to show students the basics of advertising and business management, in terms they can easily grasp.

"TREP$," a shortened, modified version of "entrepreneur," is the brainchild of two West Milford teachers, Pamela de Waal and Hayley Romano. De Waal approached the Ridgewood Avenue Home and School Association last year about possibly staging the TREP$ program in Glen Ridge.

Irmine Hero and Ellen Finton, who chair the school’s Discovery Series program, were assigned to help coordinate TREP$.

The TREP$ initiative subsequently commenced Jan. 5. In the first two classes, students learned the concepts of goods and services, and tried their hand at designing a product and pricing it. The ensuing classes focused on business planning, from revenue management and product creation to designing tables and practicing sales pitches.

The students had to enter a lending agreement with a loan agency (read: their parents) and produce a payment plan to recoup business costs.

"It’s treating them like real businesses," said Marlee Laks, one of the TREP$ instructors.

Since a large number of students elected to sell cookies, candies and other sweets, the potential for competition was high. Ashley DiGioia, 10, proprietor of "Ashley’z Amazing Browniez," wanted to add special fillings, such as toffee, to her brownies. But it was the milk chocolate brownies that kept selling out, she said.

Fourth grader Isabella Blanda, 9, ran "Eco-Beauty," a table offering homemade soaps. "I had another idea of selling valentines, but I was running out of time," she said.

And the fact that her mother had soap-making supplies on hand fueled Blanda’s decision to switch. Her offerings included Shea butter soaps in a variety of shapes, as well as jade-colored, mint-scented soaps with dragon imprints molded into them.

"It’s really fun to make soap," Blanda said. The most popular item was a large-sized, heart-shaped Shea soap, which kept selling out, she said.

Meanwhile, over at "Fan-Lets," fifth grader Dean Cerinido, 10, offered friendship bracelets in the colors of six local sports teams: the Mets, Jets, Devils, Giants, Rangers and Yankees. For those more interested in Valentine’s Day than pro sports, a basket contained red, purple and pink bracelets.

"I thought that since it’s sports season, as well as Valentine’s Day…I thought it’d be a universal object to sell," said Cerinido, clad in a Rangers jersey.

The top sellers were Giants, Yankees and Devils bracelets, Cerinido said.

Acting Principal Michael Donovan offered high praise for the marketplace and the program, adding there is a good chance TREP$ will return next year: "There’s a lot of skills involved in this type of program," said Donovan, citing time management, marketing and money management.

E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it