Adirondack Daily Enterprise: Letter to the Editor -  Thursday, March 27, 2008

I am a retailer in downtown Saranac Lake, and I’m also a shareholder and supporter of the effort to found a community department store here. I’ve spoken to some people who wonder why I would support the creation of a competitor for my business, potentially just down the street. I even heard a candidate for the village board suggest the proposed 5,000-square-foot Community Store might be too big for our village (though I don’t see how his new position squares with his recent support for a goliath supercenter 24 times as big — politicians … go figure).

Here are just a few reasons I believe the Community Store will help our entire community — residents, visitors and businesspeople alike.

The more variety a community offers its shoppers, the more likely those shoppers will visit neighboring establishments. A Community Store — locally owned and operated, with merchandise chosen to reflect the needs of people in the region, and within Saranac Lake’s pedestrian-friendly area — will be just one more reason for shoppers to come downtown and stay a while.

My business, like many others in the area, picked up certain product lines to answer consumer demand when our local Ames chain stores went out of business. The Community Store, wisely managed, will carefully judge the areas that need additional offerings and ways to sell those items at a competitive price.

The Community Store will be a sign to other entrepreneurs that Saranac Lake is a vibrant, supportive community in which to start and grow a business. It can be another feature of our downtown that draws in other innovative businesses. Saranac Lake has room to grow; let’s show our children they don’t have to go elsewhere to find success.

We are a community with great potential. Saranac Lake is by no means a perfect village, and starting a business here, as anywhere, presents risks. In my 10 years of operating a shop, quite a few have come and gone. But with flexibility and hard work, with a positive attitude and a willingness always to improve, each new business we bring to town can brighten the picture, not only for shoppers but for those of us already doing business here. I encourage my neighbors, my customers and fellow businesspeople to see the great potential, not to gripe about what we don’t have, and support the Community Store. Buy a share or two — or more! It’s an investment in our future. The payoff may surprise us all.

Sincerely,

Peter Wilson, Lake Clear

Proprietor, Major Plowshares Army & Navy Surplus, Saranac Lake

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