Poll: The decline of big retail in Ulster County

It’s getting to be a regular thing: Another winter, another wave of large and/or corporate retail businesses closing in the town of Ulster, the main commercial area of Ulster County.

This year, so far, there’s Gander Outdoors, Pier One, H&M, F.Y.E. and Hot Topic. This follows past years, when Sears, J.C. Penney’s and Macy’s closed.

We notice a lot of reader interest whenever one of these announcements is made. What’s less clear is how readers feel about these closures, or more specifically, how those feelings are distributed, numerically. We thought it would be interesting to try to get a sense for this. Looking at comments, we tried to summarize and group responses into a few answers.

How do you feel about the ongoing (and likely future) closures of the large/corporate retail businesses in Ulster County? Pick the answer that best reflects your view.

It’s sad- I like being able to shop in person at these stores. The result of these closures is job loss, empty buildings, less human interaction & the need to drive farther to reach similar stores
Somewhat bad for the lost jobs & empty buildings, but the writing has been on the wall for a while. Online shopping is better in many ways and there’s no need for as many brick & mortar retail stores.
It’s their own fault- management should have done [insert idea here]. Then it would have been successful.
I’m fine with it. I’m a small-business kind of person and rarely shop at these places. Tear up all that asphalt and do something creative with that great view. Or just return it to nature!

Vote Results

If you can’t vote, please contact hudsonvalleyone@gmail.com and provide your answer and we’ll add it manually.