KUBA President Robert Tonner. (Photo by Dan Barton)
Even the Uptown museums struggle to be consistent with one another. The Senate House actually is open Sundays from 1 to 7 p.m. however the Matthewis Persen House is not. The Fred Johnston Museum is open 1-4p.m., but the Volunteer Firefighter’s Museum is not.
Not worth it. Or is it?
Traders of the Lost Ark owner Ken Abatayo said he has played with Sunday hours before, but has found it was for naught. Traders of the Lost Ark sells an eclectic selection of religious and spiritual art, books and items at its Wall Street location. Abatayo said Wednesdays through Saturdays are his best days, however he also does very well when Mondays are factored in as three-day weekends. He said his shop’s best action goes down on a Saturday morning … except during the farmers’ market season, when his sales go down by a startling 25 percent. “I would love to see them have the farmer’s market on a Sunday, then I would stay open on Sunday as well,” said Abatayo.
Rich Reeve, owner of Elephant restaurant and wine bar on Wall Street, said he was the first evening-time restaurant to open on Wall Street five years ago. He said he never contemplated Sunday hours because nothing else Uptown is open on Sundays and added that working 65 hours per week is enough for him. Reeve said it would be great if some of the retail was open until 8, however he emphasized that business owners should be open when they want to be open and not because they’re being pressured to do so. Reeves said thanks to Backstage Production’s weeknight evening shows, Uptown is seeing more people in the evening hours than ever before.
Karmabee, owned by artist Karen Berelowitz, is on the other end of town, on Broadway down by the Rondout. But she says that even though she closes on Sundays during the winter months, 18 percent of her overall sales in 2012 came from Sunday shoppers. Karmabee is technically open till 6 p.m. however Berelowitz said she hangs around to accommodate spill-over from the restaurants. “There’s no rhyme or reason to how many customers come in,” said Berelowitz. “Sometimes I have a lot of people but it generally feels very slow down there. If other businesses don’t make the same decision to stay open with the hours it’s a Catch-22, then people would be more attracted to come on a Sunday, but since we are generally not open on Sunday then less people come.”
Larry Zalinsky, owner of Mezzanine Antiques on Broadway in the Rondout concluded after seven years that it isn’t even worth his while to keep hours, much less Sunday hours. He said that the majority of his business comes from selling his wares at other venues and antique centers, and the minimal amount of foot traffic his shop sees is not worth his time. So his shop is by appointment only. “Our average revenue is not even 25 percent of what it was four years ago,” said Zalinsky. “It was very vibrant. The block was packed with people. I have seen the art scene here started out as such a high start to deteriorate.”
Longstreet said Uptown’s fate is ultimately up to Uptown, especially considering its potential. “The business owners have to get on board and be willing to put the hours and effort in.”
The local people of Kingston need to support local businesses more. I am always amazed when I talk about certain businesses to long time residents, and they have no idea what, or where I am talking about.
I have been hosting a Celtic Music session at Elephant for thirteen months every first Saturday from 7-10pm. I have world class musicians coming in some nights. It is usually packed but not with local people. I find it extraordinary that people say they don’t know where Elephant is? They won best restaurant in the Hudson Valley, they have been featured in the New York Times, and Rich’s Cooking is nothing short of genius.
I think if you work for the city, you should spend your paycheck here. When the medium income of an individual is $18,000, and the average city,county, police officer, and fireman make two, three, or four times that amount, they should give back to the community by supporting local business, and not the strip malls on 9w. Where do you think the tax revenue comes from?
I hope that that everyone continues to have success in their business endeavors. I love Kingston!
I agree 100 percent, Sean. And I love Kingston too!
I live in Uptown and this past Sunday afternoon I was sitting outside gathering in some Vitamin D and reading. More than 10 people asked me where they could get a cup of coffee or some lunch. I could point out a few places but they were rather disappointed at all the possibilities presented but then not realized in the form of dark storefronts and closed cafes.
PS: If you want to beautify Uptown, sweep up the thousands of cigarette butts that pollute the area.
Common complaint… No place to go on Sunday. With a little effort from the cafes and merchants, uptown could be a very busy place on Sundays. The need is there — just few willing to fill it.
The sidewalk in and around Back Stage Productions is treated like a dump. (I’ve complained to the local Alderman, he’s claimed it’s been taken care of.) There are many things that business owners could do in uptown Kingston to make it more inviting. I, for one, will not patronize any establishment which has no respect for it’s environment.
I would love to see more Uptown business (retail, specifically) with some reasonable evening hours, or Sunday. It’s a serious struggle for any 9 to 5-er to shop at an establishment which is only accessible to them one day out of the week.
I truly enjoy shopping in Uptown when I can. The offerings are unique, the experience is more personal, and I believe in supporting my neighbors and my local economy… I just wish it was more feasible to do so!
It amazes me when small local business choose to be open on the same 9-5 schedule that those of us with money to spend are stuck at our desks earning it!
It does seem rather obvious that businesses should be open when customers can come in, doesn’t it??? Nice post.
Kudos to the businesses who are working hard to making uptown a better place, and shame on the ones that are whining and not trying to do anything but make excuses. I personally never will shop at Bop to Tottem after having been rudely told by the owner not to plan on staying long because I arrived at 5:20, and she was getting ready to go home and I’d have to leave in ten minutes. The worst customer service ever! There went a sale and a lot of others. I love Karmabee’s attitude that you stay when the customers are there! I know Edelweiss does the same thing.
As for Traders of the Lost Ark, all of the other businesses in uptown claim they make more money during the Farmer’s Market — yet you claim you don’t. That makes me wonder what you are doing wrong. You claim you lose 25 percent of your sales. Maybe if you were open more than three days a week??? In this article, two businesses claim they make 20 percent of their sales after 5 and on Sunday. You want to whine stating that you lose 25 percent sales on Farmer’s Market Saturdays, yet give up late hours and Sundays when your sales good rise by 20%? That is not good business. In fact, that borders on stupidity.
Do you do any marketing? Do you post specials? Are you on Facebook? Do you try and connect with your customers any way you can? Or do you sit in your store expecting people to just “come to you.”
And Mr. Reev of Elephant — you are correct — people should not feel pressured if they own a business to be open when their customers want to shop. Of course not. After all the businesses are there strictly for the shopowners ego, not to provide a service to the community. What an inane comment and crock of nonsense! If a shopkeeper chooses to be open at their own whim and not when a customer needs and desires it, then they can pretty much kiss their business good-bye. And in time, most of them will fail. And hopefully make room for people who actually care about customers. I know you work a lot of hours at Elephant and you have a popular spot, but to state businesses should not feel pressure to meet their customer’s needs is ignorant.
Mr. Tonner, you state you have tried Sunday hours. How long did you try? A month? Six weeks? Did you advertise that you were adding hours? Did you really try to build your Sunday business? You also claim you can’t “speak for KUBA.” Well, who does speak for KUBA then if the President won’t? Maybe less focus on putting together committees and more focus on actually dealing with important issues such as this is what KUBA should be doing.
What I see in this article are a handful of high commendable businesses trying to their very best to better uptown for the benefit of the community and their customers and a bucketful of whiners who don’t want to do anything but kvetch. At least with this article, I have a clearcut idea of who to give my business to and who to avoid.
Once again Carrie has written a very informative article that supports Kingston. I will be subscribing to your paper today for that very reason. I look forward to reading the entire Kingston Times at my leisure.
It would be great if businesses in Uptown were open later, but I understand how hard it is from an owners’ standpoint, having run my own business in an area with low foot traffic. We changed our hours from time to time to try to be open when there was the most traffic. You can’t blame people for closing if they’re paying employees to man their shops or have to work the hours themselves. We’ve been disappointed too when arriving at certain places near closing time, but we’ve adjusted our expectations, and hope that these business will extend their hours as they continue to grow.
As far as Sean’s comment regarding where government employees should spend their money- I’d say it’s no different for any other resident of Kingston. There simply aren’t many places to shop in town. I would gladly give my money to locals rather than to the chains. But this is a conversation the city should have had years ago when they allowed multiple locations of CVS, Walgreens and Rite Aid to open in town. Where do I shop for basic goods? Unfortunately it’s Target, H&M and Walgreens. So ultimately this is a bigger-picture issue that shouldn’t be blamed on the Uptown store owners. It’s something the city needs to look at, to help small business and avoid the allure of taxes and “jobs” that the big boxes always promise.
The key to additional hours is for businesses to work together and market together. People attempting to operate on their own will usually fail – as most people come to uptown for more than one reason. They won’t come very often for just one store. KUBA needs to take the lead and organize stores together.
The idea that stores are only open 9-5 – when people with money tend to be working and cannot shop – inane! Kudos to Julie for leading the charge.
Nope. Businesses are already doing it on their own. Great things happen from the bottom up, not from the top down.
Your comment doesn’t make sense and appears you commenting just to comment. It also appears that you put more stock in whining than in doing or saying anything constructive.
First of all, many of the businesses, especially the ones that are not open later in the evenings and on Sunday in uptown, do virtually no marketing. Nada. None. Gone are the days when the occasional tiny ad in the local newspaper sufficed. There are tons of free and low cost alternatives, but most of them just do not bother. After all it is easier to complain than do the work necessary to be successful.
Secondly, if you are going to be in retail you are going to have to compete with the CVSs, Walgreens, Walmarts, Targets etc. So you have a) offer something very unique that you can’t get at those stores, and b) provide better service (i.e., be open!), and c) you have to have be compelling and interesting to the buyer, and you have to stay up to date on trends. It can be done. But you have to want it.
To say that “businesses are already doing it on their own.” is naive and not based on fact. Any business model shows that when merchants work together to bring customers to an area, there success raises exponentially. Why on earth do you think malls are successful — because their leases require that they work together to make a good shopping experience for the customers. Stupid, stupid comment.
In addition, your previous post above indicates that you are more interested in not supporting the local economy and are one of the people who’d prefer to complain rather than actually do anything constructive. You actually tried to blame the city for allowing CVS, Walgreen’s, Target etc. to open up stores here for your reason not to shop local. You say you would prefer to shop local but since the city allowed these chains in, you shop there. Are you such a puppet that you can’t decide where to spend your money? Seriously? It’s the city’s fault that you don’t spend locally. Unbelievable. Actually, it’s just blathering.
John has great points. Your commentary is nothing more than whining.
You’re missing my point. The local stores that would sell the same items that the big boxes sell simply don’t exist in Kingston. I do support small business in Kingston, just like many people, whenever I can. But where are you going to buy shoes in Kingston? Where are you going to buy men’s clothing, children’s clothing, or women’s clothing that doesn’t fall within a particular demographic? (not my demographic) Where are you going to buy housewares? Kingston loses tax money, jobs and neighborhood goodwill to Lincoln Park, Poughkeepsie, Albany, Bergen County and New York City because there are simply very few places to shop. Restaurants, coffee shops- yes, we have them. But beyond that? It’s slim pickings. Even the small shops I do try to support- their inventory tends to be small and the prices high. Sean had said that government workers should spend their money in Kingston- and I’m asking- where? Where are these magical shops?
I’ve experienced both boom and bust times in cities on both coasts. It seems to me that in boom times everybody appears to be a genius – stuff is flowing, everything works, every idea (no matter how seemingly half-baked) gains traction. But in bust times everyone is a chimp, and no matter how many brilliant ideas are hatched, nothing really takes hold to make things better.
I see some really good things happening in uptown. Because of those handful of shops that I like, I try to visit as often as possible and support those businesses as much as I can.
I know what it is like to run a small brick n mortar operation. I know that even though their hours seem limited that the owners are probably putting in 60 hours a week or more. The extra hours doing maintenance and back office work… pushing hard just to keep things afloat.
I see some other businesses that appear (on the surface) to maybe not giving it the “old college try” – a little evidence here and there that things are slipping a bit. But here too I’m pretty sure they are also doing their best to stay afloat, but suffering under many months (or even many years) of sagging demand.
We are, after all, only about halfway through this “lost decade”; economic doldrums reaching into almost every corner of the world.
A half Century of SPRAWL-ification has severely distorted the area’s retail landscape. The 1961 Comprehensive Plan had some very clear ideas on how to deal with the issues in uptown/midtown/downtown Kingston. Some suggestions were implemented, but it seems that the ongoing issues were NOT matched with an ongoing dynamic conversation. Who can blame them? Who has the time to address the big picture while fiddling with budgets and crime, etc.
Sprawlification continued unchecked.
The many-decades-long shift has had a toxic effect on the city of Kingston and many other little villages and hamlets throughout the region.
I’m sure that the various leaders and career bureaucrats of Ulster County have always been very motivated about the development of car-friendly commercial development in Lincoln Park and Lake Katrine. The property tax and sales tax bounty from the big businesses of the past and present have probably gone a long way toward subsidizing the various public needs of County infrastructure and payroll for needed public services.
But the “1/2 Century of sprawlification” that has occurred has left the villages and small municipalities with a gutted core. The push-back has been gaining momentum. The internet has assisted greatly. The more stories that come out about the reboot of business in villages, hamlets and nano-urban centers across America, the more other people want to make a go at it.
As thousands of locations of various national chain stores are set to shutter in the next year or two, opportunities might be cracking open for local operators.
Yes there are a variety of goods available in Kingston, but not as comprehensive a selection as could be. If you want a new flatscreen TV, where are you gonna get it? WalMart/Target/Best Buy/Sears/Office Depot/Radio Shack.
Best Buy is closing 200-250 stores. Sears closing 100-125 stores. Office Depot 125-150 going away. Radio Shack 450-550 shutting down.
Will any of the ones around here be closing? Does this then become an opportunity for a local store, or for WalMart, or for Amazon.com? Or maybe a leaner physical/virtual hybrid sales model that has yet to be launched.
Right now bigger cities are benefiting from having a critical mass of people. From Des Moines to Pittsburgh to NYC: successful urban revival from what not long ago could not have been imagined by even the most optimistic of observers.
A little vision, a little tweaking of public policy to promote a widening base of private investment… that can quickly transform an area into something more amazing. Despite long-term structural issues and systemic weaknesses.
But you gotta look those weaknesses straight on. One ignores the big picture at their own peril.
I’ll continue supporting those local businesses I enjoy. I might even launch one of my own. Right now I’m in a holding pattern. There are so many factors in play; much of which is well beyond anyone’s control.
Its best to be mindful and deliberate.