A STELLAR Store Is Coming Downtown

The new sign at 48 N Main; (inset) the old Bangle storefront. PHILIP THIBODEAU PHOTOS

Attentive observers may have noticed a recent change to the storefront at 48 North Main Street – the sign for the former Bangle dress shop has been replaced by a mysterious ‘S’.

The ‘S’ in question stands for STELLAR – Southington’s Transitional Education in Life, Learning, and Adult Responsibilities. A few months from now, the storefront under the sign will house a gift shop run by STELLAR's students.

STELLAR is a special education program for students with disabilities who are between the ages of 18 and 22 years and have either graduated from high school or completed their graduation requirements. In effect, it is a fifth-year of high school where students can work on the skills they need to achieve independence. One way they gain those skills is by having experience in a retail environment.

The program is part of the Southington school system, which pays for its staffing and transportation needs, and covers the rent for its location. Over the years STELLAR has moved around quite a bit. According to Amy Aresco, the interim Director of Pupil Services, it was first housed in the now-defunct Lincoln College. From there it moved downtown to Branford Hall Career Institute at 35 North Main. When the Institute shut down in 2020, STELLAR relocated to the first floor of the building, in the hallway behind Southington Coffee.

Ever since then the program has been on the look out for a street-facing location. When Bangle closed its doors last February, the directors jumped at the opportunity to move across the street.

The new space will have a pair of classrooms to serve its 20 or so students, as well as an office and spaces for storage and retail. According to District Transition Teacher Effie Cahill, the shop will sell used books, puzzles, and donated toys, as well as keepsakes like stickers, notebooks, pens, and small, Etsy-style crafts. Other towns in the area have similar stores; Cahill said that STELLAR has learned a lot from The Next Chapter in West Hartford, which has a similar educational mission and a track record of success.

Before the new shop opens, it will need display shelving, storage, and payment technology. To cover these costs, STELLAR applied for a $3,000 grant from the Southington Education Foundation. At its most recent public event, incoming SEF Grants Chairperson Jan Galati proudly announced that the grant had been approved.

Cahill, who wrote the grant, was thrilled to hear the news. “A lot of other districts around us have some of these stores. We took a few years to study their models. We’ve slowly been edging to this opportunity, and we were able to get a small storefront that we can open up. The grant from SEF is the icing on the cake.”

To get the stop up and running, STELLAR will collaborate with the DECA program at the high school, which prepares students for careers in business. “The two teachers that run DECA really helped us to get the store open,” Cahill said. “There are benefits for our students who will get peer-to-peer mentoring, and for the DECA students who will help as mentors.”

If all goes according to plan, proceeds from retail sales will make the whole enterprise self-sustaining, with no need for ongoing aid.

STELLAR is aiming for the store to have a soft opening later this spring – hopefully in April, and no later than June. As for its name, that has yet to be finalized.

“We brainstormed a lot and have this giant list of names,” Cahill said. “At some point the kids in the program are going to vote. We will partner with DECA to really cinch it up. It is yet to be determined, but we will share it.”