For Linda Sullivan, the DECA store isn’t only what she spends her days operating; it’s also her source of income.

Many CMR students may not realize what the store has been going through these last couple of years. The store’s profits have decreased more than 50 percent, largely due to the healthy food requirements passed by the federal government.

Sullivan said that when Obama leaves the Oval Office, she hopes her profits will rise. She believes that Michelle Obama, whose platform as First Lady has been fighting childhood obesity in America, is responsible for the changes the DECA store has gone through.

The new rules have made it difficult for Sullivan to stock new items on the shelves, she said. In order to put in a new food item, the item has to pass several nutritional guidelines.

“Nothing has been able to be added. I don’t know when it’s ever going to stop,” Sullivan said.

Before these changes, the DECA store sold candy bars, non-diet pop, cookies and muffins. When the health guidelines changed, Sullivan said she had to get rid of all her best sellers.

“It used to [be] that $700 a day was nothing, but now I struggle to get $200,” Sullivan said.

The profits made by the store create an income for Sullivan, but also support student funds and activities.

“I try and take care of the kids,” she said.

The drastic changes at the DECA store are disheartening, but Sullivan is looking on the brighter side.

“[I] still have the true customers that stick with the Deca Hut,” Sullivan adds. “I hope it turns and changes, but it is going to take a while for it.”