“What differentiates us, we’re not a clinic, we’re a community health center. In addition to accepting a lot of insurance that private providers don’t, we also have a sliding fee for patients based on their income.”
On a snowy Tuesday the new doors slid silently open at the eastern end of Sunflower Natural Foods in Woodstock, that venerable institution that anchors an end of town, now taking on the whole building at Bradley Meadows, that once housed several shops including various incarnations of drug stores, a liquor store, a restaurant or two, even an audio-stereo business.
“I want people to come in here and feel like they’re going to spend time with their girlfriend, or at a friend’s house. I want them to be comfortable.”
“You can’t buy happiness, but you can buy local, and that’s kind of the same thing.” So says a hand-lettered sign posted in front the newest retail shop to add its allure to the ongoing revitalization of downtown Highland. Called Lilly Rae in the Hamlet, it’s located in a tiny wooden building that oozes with history, just on the periphery of the walkable town center at 14 Commercial Avenue.
Change has arrived at the Sawyer Savings Bank in Saugerties. Cindy Saporito, senior vice president and chief operating officer of the bank she started working at as an auditor fresh out of Ulster County Community College 33 years ago last month, has been named to the 147-year-old financial institution’s board of trustees.
As developers were unveiling new exteriors for the CVS and Five Guys buildings during last week’s New Paltz Town Planning Board meeting, watchers of the project are pushing for the environmental review process to be reopened.
A mainstay of Uptown Kingston’s business district is moving as part of an ambitious plan to adapt bricks and mortar retail to the age of e-commerce. On April 1, Catskill Art and Office Supply hopes to complete its transition from its home of 33 years at 328 Wall St. to Kingston Plaza, where it will take over a space now occupied by arts and crafts retailer Benjamin Franklin.
Dennis Jacobs has strong feelings about the value of local businesses within the community. “That’s where the heart of America is.”
Paula Dutcher, a Shandaken native, finds that being a woman gives her a positive edge in the building trade, although the presence of a female carpenter/contractor is often hard for men to process. As a mother, Jenna Rodgers, an electrician in Shandaken, appreciates the flexibility her work provides. Both of them feel the building trades are ripe for the entry of more women.
When the doors to P&G’s in New Paltz were opened again on January 19 after being closed for a renovation project, there were people outside who had been waiting half an hour just to get in.
The business of media is changing, but local, on-the-ground, fact-checked journalism is needed now more than ever.
