Let’s Hope the Future of Schroon's Tops Doesn’t Hit Bottom

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Graphic Courtesy ABC News10

Graphic Courtesy ABC News10

The New York Times today takes on the story of Tops filing bankruptcy and the possibility of store closings. They single out the Adirondacks, with a mention of Chestertown, and how it is struggling with the arrival of the Dollar General. From the NYT story:

Tight on cash, the grocery chain has faced tough competition, even in more remote markets like Chestertown, a community of about 700 people in the Adirondacks.

Many residents said they drove 35 miles to shop for food at Walmart on the weekends but shopped at Tops, often paying higher prices, during the week because it was close to home.

But Tops’s virtual monopoly in the town ended in August 2016 when Dollar General — a national discounting chain — opened a store in Chestertown. The Dollar General doesn’t sell much fresh produce or meat, but it is siphoning off Tops customers with huge deals on other staples.

At $2.80, a gallon of whole milk at Dollar General costs about the same as a half-gallon at Tops.

Alex Colpas, 27, who works at a marina on a local lake, said he rarely shopped at Tops any longer because of the deals at Dollar General.

“You don’t even need a grocery store, frankly, if you can find a better way to shop,” Mr. Colpas said. “It’s a relic.”

ABC New 10 filed a report late February mentioning both the Schroon Lake and North Creek Tops Stores.

Schroon School Safety: Please Watch

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Kimberly A. Dumoulin shared Schroon Lake Central School's live video.

Yesterday at 12:03pm

"To all Parents, grandparents, relatives of SLCS students and community members of Schroon Lake:

My husband Rick recently attended the SLCS board meeting on 3/22/2018. He brought up security related issues of our school. In light of recent events that have taken place nationally, topics were discussed including the possibility of having the students and faculty protected by some form of armed personnel. Below you will find the video of the board meeting( start watching at about the 50min mark) at which this was discussed towards the end of the meeting. Superintendent Grato mentioned that he is planning a security assessment to be completed in the near future. This assessment will be discussed at a future board meeting.
As you listen to the video things such as cost were highlighted. I/we as a parent of a child in this school will leave you with this final thought.....
You will hear..." it's too expensive to implement this" I say.....
Can we afford to NOT do this. Perhaps we need to look at the school budget through a different lens and re-adjust some of the spending to make this a priority. Let us not be a naive community and say this cannot happen here. These are our kids...yours, mine...ours!"