September 1, 2020
For Immediate Release
STEMporium Closes Storefront Due To Covid
The Great STEMporium, one of the area’s most unique science activity centers, has made the difficult decision to close its physical location at 18388 Coastal Highway in Lewes.
After opening their doors in July 2019, just 8 months before COVID, the business was forced to shut down in March 2020 for 3 months. During the shutdown, the owners worked hard to plan for a safe re-opening, which included offering curbside pickup, a reservation system with staggered table start times, socially distant seating, separate entrance and exits, hourly cleaning routines, and more. When the State of Delaware reviewed their comprehensive reopening plans, the plan was swiftly approved and the owners were very relieved. However, with the mysterious threat of virus transmission, many families, grandparents, and vacationers simply choose to stay home or limit their activities to the great outdoors. Cari Miller, co-founder of the STEMporium disclosed “Like most businesses in the area, we rely on revenue from the summer season to provide a cash cushion for the first couple of months of the off-season until other activities like birthday parties, scout groups, school field trips, and the holidays start to kick in. We knew the summer was going to be off, but it was really the restrictions on field trips and the ongoing threat of a second wave that made us realize this was going to be a very long and difficult off-season too.”
Miller is quick to acknowledge how thankful they are for all the families that visited, all the birthdays that were celebrated at the STEMporium, the five-star ratings they received, and all the children who left the STEMporium with science embedded a little deeper into their hearts. “Our store may be closing, but our mission remains strong. We wholly believe that getting kids interested in science, technology, engineering, and math at early ages is the key to a very bright future for all humankind.” says Miller. When asked if closing the physical location feels like a failure, Miller was quick to say “no.” She was reminded of the words of the late Ruth Bater Ginsburg, who said “Real change, enduring change, happens one step at a time.” To Miller, this isn’t a failure of the concept for her science center or her mission, it’s just a bump in the road. Stay tuned for the STEMporium 2.0.