The School Store: What’s the Confusion?

The Richmond Hill cafeteria school store has been open for years and is integral to the student experience; however, this year it’s been closed leaving many students and teachers in the dark. With the school store’s closure, there have been recent rumors that the store would be permanently closed.

According to administration, the school store plans on reopening in “the second week of October, or third week of October.” Ms. Himonidis, the assistant principal of pupil personnel services, mentioned that the opening of the school store is delayed “because [the school] had to allocate [their] school aids to different areas of the building.” Principal Alamarie also echoed the temporary problem that the store “needs staffing.”

Part of the reason the store has been closed this year is that an expansion to the store is coming. The new school store will now have options that are more “teacher friendly.” Ms. Himonidis added that, “we’re trying to expand the school store to be able to include everybody in the school building so they can participate in enjoying everything that the school store has to offer.” 

However, Principal Alamarie assured that the menu will have “similar items to what we had before.” The school store plans to market specific products to teachers and staff specifically, such as coffee and other products that cannot be sold to students due to legal restrictions. 

Not everything may be returning to the store that students are accustomed to. “There’s certain requirements on what we can sell to students and what we can’t,” Ms. Himonidis said. “So we’d have to look at the regulations to see what it is that we’re able to sell and if any of those items that we were selling to staff we could sell to students then we would.” One of these things include hot foods and beverages, like the aforementioned coffee and soda. 

Students in the cafeteria will not be affected by the renovation. Principal Alamarie insisted that the school’s priority is to ensure it doesn’t affect the cafeteria environment. The most that will be seen is electrical outlets for new furniture or equipment needed for the school store. 

Beyond the consumer perspective, the school store has benefitted students in other ways. According to Ms.Virginia, the school aid in charge of the store, students participating in helping run the store were given opportunities in “trips, scholarships, and hands-on experiences.” Additionally, the store helped to fund various areas of the school such as the leadership team’s many events.  Principal Alamarie claims that this won’t change, in fact he states that there will be new opportunities to earn high school credit through the school store, as there are plans to make it into an elective class. 

Principal Alamarie further clarified that if you have enough CDOS, Career Development and Occupational Studies Credential, which, according to the New York State Education Department,  may supplement regents diplomas or serve as an alternative to students “unable to meet diploma standards.” With this new plan, students will be able to gain a credential upon graduation, going as far as to “ replace a regents [exam]”.  

The idea is for this new elective class to be a part of the Academy of Hospitality and Tourism (AOHT) programs; however, the opportunity is open to all students. Leadership students who have given their service to the school store for years will still work there, including those who worked there for the past couple of years. Now with the new opportunity of gaining high school credit through their service.