Luis Rodriguez and his daughter Melany were thrilled to be picking up her school uniform, after waiting on the line outside of Flynn O’Hara Uniforms for three-and-a-half hours.

They had lots of company. The crowd outside the shop, stretching down an entire city block and wrapping around the corner. Some parents made themselves comfortable while waiting.

“I had a chair in the back of the car and I figured once I saw the line, I’m going to need it,” said Freddy Sepúlveda.

“And this is it because we came last week, and it was like this. So every day it’s like this,” added Christina Thurman.

The store has been in the Bronx for nearly 20 years, 12 of them in the Westchester Square neighborhood.

It has some of the widest variety in the region. For many charter, public and parochial schools, this is the only place to buy the academic attire. It’s why Kathleen Hena drove downstate from Albany.

“I would advocate with the parents association, with the school and this company to provide this service at the school in May before the children leave to be measured,” Hena said.

Anthony Algieri, the regional manager, says they’ve always been busy, but this school year tops them all.

“The last week or so, it’s been hectic due to the fact that there is a labor shortage out here and a lot of the parents who are shopping as well haven’t had their children in school for over a year because they were home remotely, so they weren’t wearing uniforms,” Algieri said.

Some parents told NY1 that the last time they bought uniforms was before the pandemic and their kids outgrew them. Others were waiting to see if schools would really go back to in-person learning before placing their uniform orders.

“I’m excited to go to school so I can do more activities and stop being bored in the house because I’m just in the house all day,” said student Natalie Tepecile.  

“I just want him to go and take care of himself and then come home safely and then we pray that God takes care of everybody, the teachers too,” said Ayisha Sadik, who was shopping for her son’s uniform.

Sadik said she hopes this is the hardest part of the school year because the students deserve the normalcy they’ve missed out on because of the pandemic.