SCHOOL STORE TEMPORARILY CLOSES AFTER STRONG REOPENING 

By Sam Richardson

  The Masco Variety school store had a successful reopening this year, but has temporarily been shut down. 

  Business teacher Madison Estes reopened the school store this year after years of its closure. Estes told the business department she’d be happy to take ownership of the store and get it up and running once again. 

 “My goal this year was to open it, but our long-term goal was to actually get it certified through DECA, which we are trying for this year,” said Estes.

 Sophomores Genevieve Clapp and Emma Allen are the current managers of the store and brought in much success during the first three months of the school year. 

  “Emma and I both had such a great time in DECA our freshman year and when we heard about this, we knew how amazing of a project it would become for not just us, but the whole school as well,” said Clapp. “Knowing that we had an opportunity to bring this space back to life and add more Masco pride within the school made it an easy yes from both of us.” 

  The school store’s operating hours were during M-block, and Clapp and Allen would spend their M-blocks working the register. All the money earned is regenerated back into the school store account to purchase more merchandise. 

  The girls quickly found success. During M-blocks, the line was often out the door as kids are consistently filtering in and out. So far, the hot commodities have been Welch's fruit snacks, Nike sweatshirts, and Masco pajama pants. 

    “The white Nike hoodies looked really nice, also those Welch’s are pretty tasty,” said sophomore Mason Harris.

  However, after months of crowds and, often, wandering students without proper permission, the school store has been temporarily shut down. Administration has implemented a temporary M-Block reset, during which time all students have returned to their home bases. 

  This change has been disappointing to many students.

  "Watching the school store close is a little upsetting. We love going to get Welch’s from the school store during M-block. It’s really sad to see it go but hopefully, they open it back up soon," said Harris. 

  As of right now, Clapp and Allen are hoping to get the store open and back up and running as soon as they can, but they are just adhering to the rules for now.  

  “Everyone involved in the store is sad to see it take a break, and we imagine other students are as well. But we hope to be back up and running soon enough to continue the positive impact it has given so many people,” said Clapp. 

  The school store had such a great kick-off into the school year, and just as things seemed to get going, they got shut down. Hopefully, this is a temporary change and the store will be open again shortly.