Unable to Access Purchases and Updates via App Store (OS X 10.8.5)

MacBook Pro Retina, 15-inch, Early 2013

Processor: 2.7 GHZ Intel Core i7

Memory: 16 GB 1600 MHz DDR3

Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M 1024 MB

Software: OS X 10.8.5 (12F45)

Hello, my name is Chris, and I need some help. How can I get my access back to the App Store for purchases and updates?

About 2 weeks ago I started getting the following message when clicking Software Update (Apple icon in top bar on the far left):

"We could not complete your App Store request. The App Store is temporarily unavailable. Please try again later."

I figured it was an issue on Apple's server, so I decided to press on in hopes it would be fixed within a few days. Well, it's been 2 weeks and this is obviously an issue on my side.

I searched the Apple community for answers but no luck. I also searched Google with several variations of this problem and still came up with nothing.

Of course, I've logged out of the App Store and logged in again, several times. My account information is correct because it's working on iTunes and iCloud.

I logged into the App Store directly and it lets me in. However, I can't access the Purchases tab. When I click Purchases I also get the above message. And, it does the same on the Updates tab. Actually, the Updates tab shows an update is pending (indicated by the number 1).

Hopefully, I can find a solution with your help.

Please let me know what I can do to fix this.

Thanks in advance.

Respectfully,

Chris