Store Closings Affect Hudson Valley On Many Levels

YORKTOWN, NY — It’s a good news-bad news scenario. The good news is that Sears in the Jefferson Valley Mall in the Town of Yorktown isn’t being closed. The bad news is, the company wants to downsize its operation to only one floor — and the top floor to boot.

A suggested replacement at the mall, a Sears representative told the town, could be a 24/7 fitness center with a restaurant, basketball courts and pool.

For the most part, the Hudson Valley has been spared when it comes to Sears’ announcements of store closings that also included Kmart.

The Sears department store and auto center at the Galleria at Crystal Run in the Town of Wallkill in Orange County was shuttered in mid-April.

In March, the office-supply company Staples announced it would close 70 North American stores.

Moody’s Investors Service reported earlier in June that 19 stores with a presence in the Hudson Valley are on the verge of bankruptcy. Nationally, there are 22 retailers with debt ratings of Caa or lower — higher than the number of retailers that were on the bankruptcy brink during the 2008-09 Great Recession.

The stores on Moody’s list included Eddie Bauer, Fairway Market, Gymboree, Neiman Marcus and Nine West.

Not only do all the closings impact where we can shop and what we can buy, one in 10 Americans work in retail.

Being a salesperson is the most common job in the U.S., per the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the National Review reported.

When stores close, people lose their jobs. And when stores close, muncipalities get less tax revenue.

The Town of Ulster and its failing Hudson Valley Mall were under the spotlight in a recent interview on NPR’s “Marketplace.”

According to an article in the Daily Freeman, town officials said the valuation of the mall has decreased from $120 million in 2007 to $8 million in 2017. The mall’s impact on the community is that it is 6 percent on the town’s budget.

The challenge for the Hudson Valley Mall’s new owner — Hull Property Group bought it in January 2017 — is to maintain the existing tenants, the Daily Freeman said.

Hull’s Vice President for Government Relations John Mulherin said stories about the mall appearing in more media outlets, including the BBC, Bloomberg and the Wall Street Journal, could help in the long run.

He told the Daily Freeman that if the company can revitalize the Hudson Valley Mall, “we’re going to have a lot of positive press because it is such a big story in the financial world.”