"You can get $5 off a semester pack at Nittany Notes, buy one, get one half off for Gumby's Pizza pokey sticks, and other great deals," he added. "If you get the Nittany Notes and some Gumby's, you've already saved more than $10 ... that was my goal behind it."
As far as the store support, Bloom said the first thing he did when he got back to school in August was to find the companies that wanted to be a part of his discount dreams.
"I talked to the owners and managers, and while some were hard to convince or didn't even want to be a part of it, many were very welcoming to the idea," he said.
After receiving OKs from the stores, Bloom said he invested a lot of time and money into the manufacturing of the cards.
Bloom said his next move is to set up a booth in the HUB-Robeson Center and sell the cards to more students.
Jonathan Corwin (junior-finance) has already purchased and used a discount card from Bloom.
"I went to the House of Kashmir this week, and I'm already saving money," Corwin said.
Corwin said the money-saving concept is especially great for the majority of people in town.
"It's great for students who don't have a lot of money. Every penny counts when you're at school, so 15 percent here, $5 off there, really helps," he added.
Students aren't the only discount shoppers in State College. Some professors think the venture is a great step forward, not only for Bloom, but also for his generation.
Finance professor J. Randall Woolridge said this is a positive move for students majoring in business, adding that he sees great potential in Penn State for similar projects.
"I think more students should be doing this," Woolridge said. "There was a publication recently that said Penn State is hot for entrepreneurs."
The 2005 edition of the Kaplan/Newsweek "How to Get into College" guide selected Penn State as "the hottest school for entrepreneurs" in an article featuring the 25 hottest colleges in America.
The foundation behind these ideas, he said, is a strong drive and will to succeed once students leave Penn State.
"I deal with students who want to work on Wall Street, but the top five to 10 percent of graduates compete with the Ivy League schools," he said. "So, they get motivated and anxious to get ahead and come up with ideas, like discount cards."
Woolridge also said students like Bloom have a certain entrepreneurial spirit about them -- they want to do something great and move forward from there.
Tom Matis, owner of Nittany Notes, 234 E. College Ave., said the discount cards are beneficial for students.
"Students will be attracted to this because it offers savings. And if they frequent the card usage, they have already paid for the original cost to buy them," Matis said.
Since the cards are just hitting the market, Matis said he is curious to see how sales go.
"It will be interesting to see how it is marketed, but [Bloom] has great personality and drive, so it adds a little personal value to the discounts," he said.
If Bloom's entrepreneurial debut is a hit, he said he doesn't want to stop here.
"If they are successful this semester, I'd like to get the cards more developed, have more places on there, and just become more popular," he said.
