After multiple investigations into student retail thefts and a decision to shut down in April of last semester, Pine Market in Brooks Dining Hall has reopened this year with significant changes in its operation.

The previously 24-hour convenience store for students now operates from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. with security cameras and an in-store cashier in order to mitigate theft. The changes come as a result of the multiple investigations last spring involving Parkhurst, Public Safety and Student Life after Pine Market lost thousands of dollars in product during April.

Pine Market opened initially in fall semester 2024 with a completely self-service model and didn’t have issues with significant theft until midway through the spring.

Public Safety was asked to look at the Pine Market camera footage about halfway through the semester after Parkhurst employees noticed multiple occasions where there was a loss in inventory, according to Director of Public Safety Mark Weindorf.

Public Safety investigators went through hours of footage. According to Weindorf, once particular students were identified as committing the theft, the investigation then evolved into finding whether or not there were more incidents committed.

“More often than not, we would discover additional thefts,” Weindorf said.

Weindorf and Dean for Student Life Trae Yeckley declined to provide the exact amount Parkhurst lost due to theft, but said it was in the thousands of dollars. According to Yeckley, an estimated 15 to 20 students were identified in the thefts, though Yeckley assumes there were more.

Parkhurst Dining General Manager Maria Foxall said that Parkhurst had only looked at the month of April during the investigations, but the loss in April alone was a couple of thousand of dollars by her estimate.

“If we had looked month to month, if we had had that time, I can’t imagine how much the total amount would really be,” Foxall said.

Parkhurst, as the victim, had the decision whether or not to pursue criminal charges. They opted to leave discipline up to the student conduct office.

“To the best of our ability, we were able to identify the amount of each of the retail thefts, so part of the student conduct process would’ve been restitution to the victim and whatever other sanctions were put on by Student Life through the conduct procedure,” Weindorf said.

The procedure for student conduct varies by incident, though it most commonly happens by mutual agreement: A student meets with someone from the conduct office to reach a mutual agreement on sanctions. If an agreement cannot be reached, or if the issue is severe, the process moves to a board hearing, which entails a student representative and a faculty member or two staff members to review the incident.

The most notable impact of the thefts was the decision that Parkhurst made to shut down Pine Market permanently in the final weeks of the semester.

“We really wrestled with trying to weigh, ‘We know this is a struggling time for students, that they are up late, studying for finals, writing papers,’” Yeckley said. “However, when we realized how big of an issue it was, there was no way to get a handle on it without closing down.”

Ultimately, the decision to close Pine Market for the remaining weeks of the spring semester was made jointly by Allegheny and Parkhurst.

“It was a decision we made collectively with the school because we were losing hundreds of dollars of product every day, and security was combing through hours and hours of footage, so it wasn’t feasible for us anymore,” Foxall said.

Pine Market initially closed for a few days and reopened for a short time before finally closing down two weeks before the end of the spring semester.

Parkhurst did not receive any money for lost products. However, that did not stop Foxall’s and Parkhurst’s eagerness to reopen the market.

“I definitely wanted to reopen (Pine Market) because I am so proud of the place,” Foxall said. “I was the one who started Pine Market when we were here in the past, and during COVID, making it bigger and better all the time. So it was never a thought in my mind that we would not reopen it, it was just about how to reopen it to give you guys the best possible services, but at the same time us not losing on it.”

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the college did not have anything like Pine Market in the dining halls, so when the college contracted Parkhurst, having a convenience store was something highlighted because of popular demand with the student body, according to Yeckley.

There are some new benefits to having a person to staff the store; now, the market is able to serve hot foods and a wider variety of options.

“I don’t ever want to just take stuff away, we also want to add,” Foxall said.

This week, Parkhurst is working on getting produce into the market, such as whole potatoes, carrots and rice, so students have the ability to cook for themselves in the dorms.

Foxall says service has been running smoothly, with the exception of the long lines during the rush hours of the market. To speed things along during the busier times, Foxall says that Parkhurst is working to get a self-checkout station set up alongside the cashier for a quicker checkout that can still be monitored.

Between having a staff member present and reduced hours, Yeckley and Weindorf both agree that it should be a large enough deterrent to minimize the issue.

“Like any retail establishment, you aren’t ever going to stop something 100%, but I think that will go a long way,” Weindorf said. “You like to have faith in the student body that everyone’s going to do the right thing, and the fact that it’s been brought to our attention and investigations have been done, students know that it’s being looked at.”

Weindorf recommends that students who will be up late studying plan accordingly.

“Hustle on over to the store before 11 p.m.,” Wendorf said. “Get your coffees and get your snacks for overnight.”

No investigations for theft remain open at this point.