TCTC Students get store looking pretty hot

By SHERRI L. SHAULIS
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
T TRULY IS THE HOT SPOT.
With a new color scheme, a new look in the deli and a new attitude, The Hot Spot -- the school-sponsored store at Trumbull Career & amp; Technical Center -- had its grand opening Thursday.
The "new" store now features a small cafe and a new paint job in the deli, compliments of the center's Interior Design and Marketing Education classes.
"Michelle [Plakosh, marketing education teacher] and I take classes together at Kent State, and a lot of times we would stop at places that were a nice little place to get coffee and a bagel or a muffin," said Nancy Jones, interior design teacher.
"We got to talking about how updating the store would be a good idea, so it would better reflect what's out there today," she said. "Places like Barnes & amp; Noble and Giant Eagle -- everybody has something like this now."
Student designs
Jones said her students decided to design a new look for the store, which sells everything from food and snack items to school supplies. The update, Plakosh said, was sorely needed.
"We opened the day the school opened, so we have been here about 20 years," she said. "We just really wanted a face lift."
Junior Mallory Scoville of Girard High School and senior Trena Garrison of Maplewood High School, interior design students, said the goal was to keep costs down, but make a big difference.
"We reupholstered the chairs and redid the tables," said Garrison. "They were old and brown, and they were just going to throw them away. We painted canvas and put it on the chairs and we put tile and grout on the tables."
Scoville said interior design students also sponge painted the wall behind the deli counter, and had carpentry students cut out letters for The Hot Spot to put up around the store.
"Everyone put a little in," she said.
Other departments helped as well. Some classes helped with invitations, and others designed special T-shirts to commemorate the grand opening.
Reaction
"It looks perfect," said Shayla Johnson, a junior from Warren Harding High School. She is one of the marketing education students who staff the store weekdays from 9 a.m.-noon. "I like the design and everything."
Fellow student and co-worker Jessica Gore, a junior from Bristol High School, agreed.
"We really needed a new style," she said. "We wanted something where people could come in and feel comfortable and sit and have a nice quiet lunch. I could really get used to this."
slshaulis@vindy.com