Letter to the Editor: How to save downtown Chappaqua

Lupica, owner of Marmalade on Lower King Street, with her children, Jack and Madeline, at Wednesday night’s concert
July 10, 2009
by Cindy Lupica

Dear Editor: Did you know that when you spend $100 across any of the downtown Chappaqua stores (excluding Starbucks) that $68 dollars of that comes back to your community?  Did you know that all of us merchants in downtown Chappaqua rely on you and your dollars to exist? I know, what an obvious statement, right?  But actually I don’t know if it is so obvious.

The 350 Project

A woman named Cinda Baxter came up with a concept that she has labeled the 3/50 Project. As you’ll read below she has pulled together figures to show people just how much their spending directly affects their communities by keeping their spending as local as possible. It’s actually quite amazing when you realize that out of every $100 spent, if it was spent locally $68 returns directly to that community, if it was spent at a national chain only $43 stays local, and if your dollars were spent on the internet, $0 returns to your community.

As a local merchant myself, I have to say that I am impressed every day by the number of people who look me in the eye and really care about my answer when they ask the inevitable, “How are you guys doing?”  I have found the Chappaqua people do really care that my store stays around as well as my fellow merchants, but beyond that I don’t think that people actually realize just how much they are capable of contributing to their own downtown by keeping their spending as local as possible. It’s HUGE, folks, what your dollars can do for you when you spend locally.

Local merchants more than willing to cater to local needs

On the other side of the coin, I also feel strongly that if I, as a merchant, expect you to shop for your needs in my store, then I, in turn, am obligated to be able to fulfill as many of your needs as possible. Sometimes in a tight economy we merchants forget that, so please always let us store owners know if there is something we can do to keep more of your business. 

This last Sunday I had a customer thank me over and over that we are open on Sundays because it is the only day that she can do her shopping. Are there other stores that you would shop in more if they were open on Sundays? Tell them, let them know. 

I had one person tell me how she needed a certain party favor and Karen from Penny Auntie’s was able to source it for her.  That’s what we need from all of you, if there is a category or item that you buy repeatedly and you’re always hopping in your car to run to the Westchester Mall to purchase it, ask one of us to start to supply it for you. 

Guess what, I bet not only would we do that for you, but you may have helped us tap into a certain product that brings us other local people as well. I strongly believe that to get through these final legs of this economic downturn we both need each other, you, the customer, and us, the merchants. Yes, the more obvious statement is that we store owners need you, but, actually, if you want a downtown instead of a ghost town you need us too. 

Cindy Lupica

The writer is the owner of Marmalade, on Lower King Street in Chappaqua, N,Y.

Some other letters to the editor on the state of downtown Chappaqua:

Correspondence about lifting the restriction on additional banks in downtown Chappaqua
July 3, 2009

Letter to the Town Board: Reinstate the retail-only moratorium
June 12, 2009

Public hearing on downtown retail space restrictions will reconvene on July 14
June 12, 2009

Write the town board with your ideas (their addresses are below), and copy us at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) for publication next Friday.

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)

_____________________________________________________
Thanks for reading NewCastleNOW.org.
What do you like about the site; how could it be better?
Let us hear from you.
Write .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
_____________________________________________________