The Griff Re-opens (Briefly)

Despite not operating in their usual space, the Griff reopened in January | Photo Credit: Teresa Chen

The Griff, Eric Hamber’s quintessential school store, made its long awaited return after months of extensive planning. Shut down in 2020, The Griff had been shuttered for nearly three years.

Student executives had been faced with a barrage of restrictions on food as well as new health and safety guidelines that arose during the COVID-19 pandemic. This year, however, some of these restrictions eased, and the Griff came back to Hamber with a two-week pop-up shop at the kiosk that ran three days a week, from Jan. 16 to 27. 

The pop-up shop sold seven products, including stationery, Griffin branded card holders, and snacks. The Griff released an online survey in the weeks prior that allowed students to advocate for the products they most wanted to see sold at the Griff this year. 

They sold products from a kiosk outside the school office and with a trolley in their mobile “Griff on the Go” format. 

“Our biggest difficulties this year were finding products that fit the BC food guidelines, and then acquiring them to be sold. [...] There were a lot of people we had to go through to get approval, and that was a very long process,” revealed the Griff’s Operations Manager, Priya Mann (12). “I learned a lot in my role this year, as there were a lot of different things we had to face in terms of constraints and restrictions.”

The Griff will not return this year, but Marketing Head Gemma Holland (12) explained that the goal of the pop-up shop in January was to pave the way for the full return of the Griff in coming school years. “Our plan became to do a two-week pop-up because we thought that would be the most feasible. We want this to be a way to find some new roots for the Griff, so people can work towards opening it for the entire year.”

Even though the Griff hasn’t made a full comeback yet, both Holland and Mann are satisfied with how things turned out in 2023. “It was cool to have the feeling you were creating something,” said Holland. “The Griff was such a staple for the Hamber community when I first came to Hamber in Grade 8, and it was unfortunately stopped due to COVID. It's been great trying to replicate that in the best way we could.” 

Mann shared a similar sentiment, and was also content with how the year played out for the Griff. “It was a pretty positive experience, and I learned a lot from it,” she said.