Saturday, November 11, 2006

CENTRAL AVE CHANGES: TURCOS SOLD TO MORT WILLIAMS

Turco's food market on Central Ave has been sold to Morton Williams. Morton Williams sells similar high quality/fine foods in NYC. Turco's has been one of the major food stores and destination locations on Central Ave in Hartsdale since 1976. Welcome Morton Williams. Thank you for the memories, Turco's.

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

First of all, let me say this is just a comment, and nothing to do with the Supervisor or the Town Council.

I think it is a shame that New York state law does not allow grocery stores to sell wine. I think that would help consumers and grocery stores.

Anonymous said...

I googled Morton Williams and it seems like an upscale supermarket. So many changes in Hartsdale.
Looking forward to the new store.

Anonymous said...

Turcos was good too, but I am glad they sold out to Morton Williams and not a ffurniture storce or another cvs

Anonymous said...

Please do not think in any way that the Town Of Greenburgh had anything to do with the move.

The Town, and it's supervisor, like to tout all his progressive and innovative ideas (I give him credit for some good ones), but when it comes down to the "bread and butter", everyday items, he and they could really care less. Espceically when it comes to Hartsdale and Central Ave's retail economy.

Take, for example, this sign posted in Hartsdale Liquors, in the Village.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v516/TacSupport1/GarageSite.jpg

The Hartsdale Parking Garage is an absolute disaster due to the ongoing renovation project. Not only are there dangerous conditions that exists for the workers, but for the pedestrians and users of the garage. The sporadic, unscheduled closings of the garage, and the filthy conditions of the existing parking garage, has made it difficult to patronize the businesses in downtown Hartsdale...thankfully though I can at least most times walk in. Coupled with an aggressive parking authority, this makes me think twice before patronizing the businesses in Hartsdale. After all, I don't want to come back to my car to find construction debris on it...again.

Anyways, I hope Morton William's isn't too expensive, and they don't end up going the same route as Gourmet Garage, which is yet another Central Ave. vacancy. A Wild Oats market would have been nice too. I know the Town Of Greenburgh had no control over this purchase, but I don't want people thinking that the town actually cares about attracting new and fun retail and resturants to Central Ave or anywhere else in Hartsdale.

Anonymous said...

Sorry, the link to that photo should have been:

ttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v516/TacSupport1/GarageSite.jpg

And as has been proved by this past week's meeting, it's impossible to speak on these kinds of issues at the Town Board meetings. It seems that one issue always overtakes everything else.

Anonymous said...

OK, one more time with this link:


http://img.photobucket.com
/albums/v516/TacSupport1/
GarageSite.jpg

Anonymous said...

Also, with the new Christmas Tree shops opening in this same plaza, how does the town plan to accomodate the, what I expect, very large increase in traffic around this area, especially around the holidays?

I hope that the town has pursuaded the Christmas Tree shops to pay for an Police Officer detail, to direct traffic, like Franks Nursery used to do at Christmastime.

But then again, I guess we need a $15,000 study before figuring this out or acting on it.

Anonymous said...

The Christmas Tree shop has its own traffic light. Franks did not. The problem at Franks was that anyone leaving by making a left turn has a tough time when there is a lot of traffic. When traffic was really heavy, the right turns had a tough time, as did the people making a left turn into Franks. The light at Christmas takes away most of the problem.

also -- before christmas tree was there - there was a store that also did a lot of traffic at christmas.

Anonymous said...

The place will be a MADHOUSE...easily add 2000 cars a day to Central Ave. If Greenburgh doesn't at least step up patrols in this area on weekends, especially during the holiday season, then they are ignorant.

This will be NOTHING like Holidays past.

Anonymous said...

I feeel that Supervisor Feiner really cares about Greenburgh and hartsdale in particular. Those comments are a bit harsh. We need more restaurants and upscale places in Hartsdale. happy to see cassons's with tables. I hope the tanning salon does well.

Paul Feiner said...

I received a response from Chief Kapica to X635s request to post a police officer at the Christmas Tree shop.The chief indicated that "only a small portion of the parking lot in front of the store is within Greenburgh. Most of the access is in White Plains." Usually, police overtime services are provided at the retailer's request.

Anonymous said...

That's what I was getting at, the retailer(s) should pay for an additional patrol during peak hours.

Even though the parking lot is in White Plains, the traffic will still come through HARTSDALE.

I'll take a photo and video of Central Ave and West Hartsdale Ave during the Christmas season, with Christmas Tree shops open and there's an accident on the Sprain and send them to you. You might be suprised of the volume on Central Ave. (It's the road with a lot of furniture stores and vacant stores and property that runs smack dab through the middle of Greenburgh, in the Hartsdale section mainly)

Anyways, I'll let things work themselves out. I'd rather focus my energy on a sidewalk for the length of West Hartsdale Ave.

Anonymous said...

Central Avenue is always backed up around Christmas -- it is not like Franks which was the only retail store in its area -- i dont see how you can blame the traffic on one store

Anonymous said...

Dear X635: I agree that there is a need for a sidewalk on W Hartsdale Ave. You should contact the Town Board and ask them to approve a sidewalk policy. The Supervisor presented them with a proposal which, with some adjustments and modifications, could be approved. That would pave (pardon the pun) the way for a sidealk on W Hartsdale Ave.

Anonymous said...

Dear x635,

How do you or anyone who cites the number of cars passing by in an hour or a day actually recognize the different effect of these evolving numbers?

It is one thing to count cars. It is quite another to experience the flow and the movement or lack of when you are in a car.

I suspect residents would be "shocked" to learn how many cars pass per hour on their own residential block.

And I would be even more surprised to know that there are residents who can detect an increase of 100 or 500 cars an hour when seated behind their steering wheel. "Say Martha, I think the traffic has just increased by another 400 cars an hour..."

Test question: How many cars an hour can get through the traffic light at "Four Corners", that's where the street with the vacant stores and furniture stores crosses the street desperately seeking sidewalk intersect.

The point is that the numbers are useless without something real to relate them to. And, 1000 cars an hour is different on a six lane road than on a four lane road. And 1000 cars an hour is less felt at 60mph than at 30mph. So, unless you can tie the numbers to some relatable base, stick with sidewalks.

And for the record, Christmas Tree Shoppes which is owned by the previous occupant, Bed, Bath and Beyond, did a fair amount of business during the Christmas Holiday season also. So, let's subtract their traffic count per hour from the assumed higher count of the new store and we will be doing this all this anticpatory agonizing over a different set of "numbers". But thanks for taking the trouble to point out which road is Central Park Avenue; lots of people visit this blog from out of town.
And this is the road with a lot of furniture stores and vacant stores...furniture stores bring the least retail traffic per square foot and the only stores of their size that bring less traffic are...those that are vacant.

So I guess that we should be grateful for the furniture and vacant stores.

And, guess what, Central Park Avenue is a two-way street which means that people may come to the site from White PLains or beyond as well or even from the non-Hartsdale sections of Greenburgh, say Fairview. And it may come from off 287 and spare Hartsdale. And god willing, maybe Ridge Hill will open and divert all those to Jackson Avenue and Route 9.

Yes Virginia, there are stores all over and residents have a right to shop at all of them. But if you're really feeling down and worrying about the future of our little burgh, then drive a little further to Norwalk's Route 7 (the portion parallel to I95) and you will see big box store heaven and even during the pre-Christmas weekend shopping fever, I guarantee that you won't have to pack an overnight bag to go, shop and return the same day.

The bottom line is that cars per hour is money in the bank for our well-paid traffic consultants. However, the average resident has no idea what these figures represent to themselves as drivers.

But one way to avoid living in the bustling Greenburgh of 2006 is to move. What gave anyone the idea that living just 20 miles from New York City would be some guarantee that things would never change? I understand that there are still large tracts of undeveloped land in Maine. Hey, and with the internet, we'll always be in touch.

In the meantime, good luck with your photography; we're counting on you buddy.

Anonymous said...

to everyone else,

And it only took Turco's four years to find a buyer...

Hey, wasn't Turco's an upscale market, if anything Mortin Williams Manhattan locations are large deli's

If customer's don't find a need to shop at a store, be it bank, furniture or CVS, the store will close. So if you object to the multiple presence of these uses, then speak to your neighbors and ask them to please stop patronizing them so you can open the store that fills the need that YOU see missing from the marketplace.

And by most exit interviews, customers would identify Gourmet Garage and Wild Oats as upscale markets so good luck hoping that Morton Williams is not too expensive because the "fun" stores you miss are or were the same pricing structure and meanwhile there's that little, tiny unknown chain that seems to be overlooked by all of you Central Park Avenue retail experts, I believe it is called Trader Joe's...

Let's stay with the assumption that the free market operates in Greenburgh and that shoppers will vote with their dollars whether they want a store to remain or go. And let's give a little credit to those in retail who often have some idea of who their customer is and where they live. The Town Supervisor however is not in the retail business or in store leasing. Let's free him from being responsible for those stores which do or do not make it in Greenburgh.

To those who were perplexed by Barnes & Noble saying goodbye:
Liking Barnes & Noble in Hartsdale because it wasn't crowded might be a clue leading to the answer. Think about it some more.

But, if you really want a particular store to come to a neighborhood near you (while not bringing with it nasty signage or traffic or messy dumpsters or inadequate parking or a storefront not to your liking or needing a road with a left turn lane etc....you're in luck. Next week will be the "official" start of the Christmas season and all you have to do is find a Santa Claus in White Plains and whisper in his ear....