An unpleasant surprise awaited many Cambridge Rindge & Latin School (CRLS) students who walked into Broadway Market for the first time this past month and were greeted by a row of metal racks and a stern-face worker telling them to take their backpacks off. On busy weekdays, Broadway Market is now requiring high school shoppers to leave their backpacks by the door while they are in the store.
Broadway’s new backpack policy has incited many loud complaints among CRLS students ever since its establishment this past month. Many argue that the policy only seems to make Broadway, already plenty crazy during lunch hours, even more chaotic, crowded, and just plain difficult. “It’s just a hassle to take off your backpack before you enter the store, especially when you just want to buy an Arizona and get out quick,” Jonathan Choi ’26 griped.
But what if I were to tell you that this policy has been put into place, not only to make our own lives easier (though it may not seem like it), but also to protect students from arrest? Tenzin, the current manager of Broadway, told the Register Forum that the new policy was established after staff met in a budget meeting to discuss the store’s issues with highschool students. “The loss and profit margin from high school students’ shoplifting was just so high,” Tenzin stated.
For a while, Broadway Market tried to solve the problem by requiring students to show their receipts as they left the store. The cracks in this plan, however, were quickly revealed. “80% of kids would grab the receipt and throw it away. I was making kids pay double if they didn’t have a receipt,” Tenzin said. Many students who legitimately bought items would toss their receipt and then reenter the building, confusing cashiers over who had paid or not. Furthermore, while checking receipts helped hold students accountable, it also made the real issue all too obvious. “The receipts worked so well,” Tenzin recalled, “that we realized just how much kids were stealing.”
It is for these very reasons that the previous owner did not let students shop at Broadway, Tenzin told me. “A lot of adult shoppers don’t come here because the kids are here. The average adult shopper spends like $50, so it’s a lot more profitable than if a group of kids come and buy two Arizonas.” Despite this, the current owner allows CRLS students to shop at Broadway. “The owner loves the high school and the kids,” Tenzin said. “He is really community-based.”
Ironically, the backpack policy’s role is to protect the very people who attempt to steal from the store. “When someone is caught shoplifting we call the police,” Tenzin said. “Once the police arrive, they confiscate the items and then issue a no-trespassing warrant.” If a student with a no-trespassing warrant were to even walk on the sidewalk by Broadway, they would be subject to immediate arrest by the police. It is this type of incident that the Broadway ownership is trying to prevent by having students remove their backpacks before entering. “We do not want the police to get involved,” Tenzin explained. “It’s all about protecting the students.”
An additional concern is the stealing of alcohol by underage students. “You may have seen the doors on the alcohol room,” Tenzin said. “We do not want drunken students on the campus.” Luckily, the backpack policy will not be enforced during the weekends or after school hours when fewer students come to the store. “It’s more about the masses. When there is a large crowd, any shoplifter has the chance to steal,” Tenzin told the Register Forum. “Having students put the backpacks away is for the good of the community.”
This article appears in our print 2024 November Edition.
