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ARMONK, N.Y. – One resident called it a “stinking, lousy, no-good corporation,” but that did not stop the North Castle Town Board from approving the special-use permit for CVS and its plan to move in to the old A&P location.
“I think it’s disgusting,” said Judy Willsey, Armonk resident and owner of Framings on Main Street. “Large corporations undercut everything we sell and lure people in to the store with huge discounts.”
Almost a dozen citizens spoke in front of the board at its meeting Wednesday night at Town Hall, saying a big-name corporation like CVS does not fit the character of Armonk and North Castle. The board approved the permit by a 3-2 vote, with councilmen Michael Schiliro and Stephen D’Angelo voting no.
Town Planner Adam Kaufman said it would be difficult to vote against the permit since CVS plans to move in to a store that is set to welcome them.
There is no timetable for when the pharmacy would open, but CVS officials said the store will have 20 employees.
“This is a different situation because we’re dealing with an existing retail space,” Kaufman said. “That is actually going to be smaller than the grandfathered use of the space.”
Armonk resident Michael Ferari said he was in favor of the CVS, and that it would be impossible to not overlap businesses in any situation.
“That’s the nature of business, everyone is trying to fit in more products and services,” Ferari said.
Jeff Baker, an attorney for the Concerned Citizens of Armonk group, spoke on behalf of his clients, who are led by Town Center Pharmacy owner Charlene Jacobi. Baker urged the board to reject the application and “protect the unique character” of Armonk.
With CVS set to move in after the approval, Willsey was not confident her picture frame business could survive.
“As if the economy isn’t bad enough, now we have a CVS shoved down our throats,” she said.
Comments (7)
My comment originally appearing between those of rwmurphy and jpizzimenti has been removed. Could it be because I questioned the claims of The Concerned Citizens and supported CVS?
We rarely - if ever - remove comments. We would only remove a comment if it is in violation of our Terms of Use.
Thanks!
Thanks for the reply.
I had made a comment and I was able to see it daily as the thread built from July 29 thru 31. Then today it was gone. I think I originally made the comment on 7/27 or 28. The gist of it was that I questioned that Framings would be competed against by CVS, and that whether The Concerned Citizens was a front for the economic interests of the Town Center Pharmacy. I assure you I do not engage in bad language or personal slander on these boards.
Perhaps it was a computer related transaction rollback that caused my comment to disappear?
Interesting how I wrote a comment and it was not put up obviously because it was against CVS!!!!
It is disgusting that CVS has been allowed to crawl into the beautiful hamlet of Armonk. CVS stores are like cockroaches, all over the place and you can't get rid of them.
New Rochelle was a beautiful up scale City 35 years ago with Bloomingdales, Arnold Constibile's, Haas Linens, etc. When the "new" government came in and wanted more urban revenue, they used "Pik a Shoe" as their key. That was the end of New Rochelle.All those nice stores left. Now it is cheapy stores with run down facades except for a few diehards who try to make a living there. SAD!! that the board gave in to this philandering by CVS.
I happen to live in Armonk and pay high taxes to live here. My personal experience in getting the ok to do projects on MY Property has been that I was scrutinized unfairly at times, forced to pay a great deal of money for all kinds of permits, architects, etc and even then it took over 2 years to get a CO on a pool in my yard.....HOW did CVS get a "special use permit" in no time at all????? It has been proven that there are discrepancies in the paperwork so something smells fishy!! Let's hope WE, the Concerned Citizens of Armonk can still stop CVS from coming to town.. I know I won't shop there and I know alot of other people who plan to do the same thing.
GO BACK under the rug CVS!!!
At the end of the day, if a business is viable and there is a reason for customers to go there over CVS, the business will survive. A complacency among storeowners has developed from a lack of competition. You don't see the same negative attitude from the restaurants in town, each of whom offer a unique experience.
Other suburban downtowns with CVS/Walgreens in affluent areas do well if the retail stores have a unique experience. One need not look further than Larchmont, Scarsdale or Eastchester. Downtowns that remain anti-development tend to have empty stores. Let's not go that way.
That being said, I can't wait for the DeCicco's to open. It will be great to finally have a supermarket in town with fresh produce, great meats and a unique experience right in our neighborhood.
The retail business owners in this town feel that the measure of whether or not to allow a store to open is "competition." The unique nature of our town has been demonstrated in citizens buying milk, cereal, cleaning products etc from our local vegetable market on main street. This has happened because yielding to special interests has left us without a grocer. I wonder about the claim that local people will flock to CVS to buy cheap frames instead of the higher quality ones available at our local frame shop. The framing service at CVS is sure to be of the highest quality! Good business owners don't stop competition. They figure out a way to beat it.