As big box stores continue to expand into more and more areas, one village in the Adirondacks has turned them down. Instead, Saranac Lake residents decided to own and operate their own department store based on a business model that allows residents to buy in to the retail store for $100 per share. Now, after fundraising for four and a half years, the group has reached its goal of $500,000 and the Community Store in Saranac Lake is open for business.
Members of the store's board are hoping that Gov. Cuomo, who has vacationed in Saranac Lake before, will take notice.
'I hope Gov. Cuomo knows what we've done here because we are really blazing a trail for a new form of local retail,' says Gail Brill, vice president of the Community Store's board of directors.Â
