Saranac Lake, New York - December 5, 2011
There's a new place to shop in Saranac Lake this holiday season. It can save shoppers lots of travel time and its truly for the community.
Caroline Declerque is shopping for a white turtleneck. She no longer has to drive nearly an hour to find one. "You had to go miles and miles to go and get this kind of merchandise and quality," she said.
Since Ames closed in 2002, Saranac Lake has been without a department store. Customers had to drive 50 miles to either Plattsburgh or Malone to find similar merchandise, including the everyday essentials.
"The jokes been -- I bought my first pair of underwear in Saranac Lake," said Melina Little, who works at the new store on Main Street.
It's called The Community Store. It's modeled after a store in Wyoming and there are fewer than a dozen in the country. This is how it works. People in the community buy shares. A share sells for $100. So far more than five-thousand have been sold. That money is used to pay the bills and purchase merchandise which is marked at competitive prices.
"We have apparel for men women and children. We have infant stuff. We have shoes, sheets, mattress pads. We are not trying to compete with other retailers -- trying to fill voids," Little said.
Shoppers aren't the only ones happy with the Community Store. So are downtown business owners.
"I've had people here, who were there for the store, so it's good for everyone," said Denny Ford with Upscale Resale.
Business owners say the number of empty storefronts has fluctuated since Ames left nearly a decade ago.
"Certainly this isn't going to stop people from going to Plattsburgh or Malone," said Peter Wilson with Major Plowshares Army Navy Surplus, "but If we can give them more to shop for when they stay in town, that's what we are aiming for."
The community store says it does face a number of challenges, including keeping the inventory fresh and fulfilling the needs of customers. "Because we are local, we can react pretty quickly, because there is nobody from outside the community making the decision," Little said.
"We use the Internet a lot for finding what we need, but we are definitely able to find it here and that makes it a lot easier because we know exactly what we are getting," said Annie Wenzler, a shopper from Lake Placid.
A store that is a true sense of community pride.
