Old Department Store Becomes Vermont High School
Have you ever wondered what will become of all of the anchor department stores that have closed in the local malls? There is a Vermont city that has repurposed a Macy's into a high school for their students to learn in. Some adjustments had to be made but the students are loving their new Macy's high school.
According to News Channel 13, Burlington High School was closed back in August when there were harmful chemicals found throughout the school. They were doing remote learning ever since. That's when officials started to look at the closed Macy's department store in the Burlington Mall. They were hoping to revamp it into a learning institution and that's exactly what they did.
In order to make it work, they added separation walls between departments and within other departments. But signs still remain like Michael Kors and Calvin Klein. There are also posters of Levi's Jeans. The library is different too. They put it in the old china department of the Macy's store so all of the shelves that house the books are backlit.
There are some problems with the new school. There is more noise. The partial walls do not hide the sounds coming from the other sides. But the students will tell you they are just happy to be back together in whatever form their high school is. Also, it must be pretty cool to take an escalator up to your 5th-period class.
If they had moved my high school into the Macy's department store, that would have been cool but chances are I wouldn't be in class often. I would have wandered down to Soundtracks and recorded a few new songs. I might have also found my way into Lerner NY to try on some funky new sweaters. I'm glad that these students are able to learn any way they can.
The Burlington High School at Macy's may be around for a while. They have leased the building for three and a half years.