Community-Owned Store Touted For Saranac

NED P. RAUCH

Staff Writer, Press Republican

June 23, 2006
Hundreds of residents turn out to learn about community-owned department store.

SARANAC LAKE — Other than during Winter Carnival, it's rare that Saranac Lake's largest public meeting place, the Harrietstown Town Hall auditorium, fills to capacity.

Figuring as much, members of the Save Saranac Lake Coalition planned to put out just 100 chairs for a Thursday night meeting in the auditorium about starting a community-owned department store.

They were talked into putting out twice that many chairs, and within minutes of the meeting's start, it was clear they'd have to scramble for more.

More than 200 people showed up to listen to Sharon Earhart, director of the Powell, Wyo. Chamber of Commerce, talk about how her community founded the Merc, an Ames-like store owned communally — through $500 shares of stock — by the local residents.

Powell and Saranac Lake are eerily similar to one another. They are close in population and both former All-America cities. And both were recently left without a large retail store.

In Powell, the Merc (short for Mercantile), has worked, Earhart said, turning a profit every year since it opened and providing residents the things they need.

"Guess what?" she said. "When you have your own store, you can order what you need."

Speakers from towns in Massachusetts and Connecticut that are working on founding Merc-like stores spoke as well. Their message seemed to resonate with the crowd, who applauded regularly throughout.

Saranac Lake is still reeling from its latest run-in with Wal-Mart, which recently announced it had been "effectively prohibited" by the Village Board from opening a store in Saranac Lake.

The community was divided over whether Wal-Mart would be a good addition, but it has been united on the notion that Saranac Lake needs a department store.

Ruth Sofield, of Saranac Lake, left Thursday's meeting feeling encouraged.

"We have to have something. We desperately need a store," she said.

Sofield said she liked what she'd heard about a community-owned store because, "It wouldn't be too big and I think they would get what people want."

Gloria Volz, a member of the Save Saranac Lake Coalition, which was born out of the fight against Wal-Mart, said the large turnout was significant.

"It tells me that the community is interested in working together," she said.

Her group drafted questionnaires asking residents whether they'd support a store like the Merc. If it turns out they do, Volz said, the coalition would work with other local organizations to open a department store.

"It fits our character, it fits what we need," she said. "It fits the kind of community we are and it would complement the existing community we have downtown."

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