NEW PALTZ - There is no indication that new chain stores and franchise operations are preparing to crowd this college village, but Mayor Jason West is determined to encourage entrepreneurs to help enhance its character.
West says home-grown restaurants like The Gilded Otter at the village’s western gateway on the Wallkill River do more to give visitors a favorable impression than does the McDonald’s restaurant just outside the village line at the eastern end of state Route 299.
“Basically, it gives breathing room to people like (Gilded Otter owner) Rick (Rauce) to say something like, ‘Hey, you know what would look great here?’ rather than, ‘How much money can I make?’ You look at an empty spot on the river and say, ‘Hey, I really wanted to have a brew pub,’” West said.
Ultimately, if a business owner has the fortitude and plan, West says, a homegrown franchise could become a national brand that, under a proposed franchise ban, could ultimately be prohibited from opening another store in the village.
“If you open a small business in the community, the neighborhood deli, the local restaurant - that type of business is fundamentally what we’re trying to protect and encourage,” West said. “You like running a restaurant, you want to make some money. You should be able to make a living, succeed and make some profit, and save some money. But the end result of it is to deliver a good product and be anchored in the community.”
The proposed franchise law, which is being forwarded to the village Planning Board for comment, is being proposed at a time when no applications are pending for franchise or chain stores. The Starbuck’s coffee shop, which received site plan approval on Oct. 8, 1998, and opened in November 1999 on Plattekill Avenue, is the most recent franchise operation that would have been subject to the proposal had it been in effect.
For a business to be considered a franchise, under the proposal, it would have to offer a “standardized menu or standardized array of merchandise with 50 percent or more of in-stock merchandise from a single distributor bearing uniform markings.” Other tell-tale markings of a franchise or chain operation would include architectural or facade details or signs considered to be part of a “format which causes it to be substantially identical” to other chain or franchise stores.
Representatives of Starbuck’s and it corporate offices were not immediately available for comment. Owners of nearby McDonald’s and Burger King restaurants in the town referred questions to corporate offices, which did not immediately respond.
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