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Caldor closing jeopardizes neighboring cafe By RICH NEWMAN Staff Writer MIDDLETOWN – In one of the framed photos on top of a glass case that holds a few bagels, hard rolls and pastries, a smiling Joe Raffino is holding newborn granddaughter Kirsten, who is now 15 months old. In another photo she's a curly 1-year-old. The one he has in his wallet is more recent. "I can't wait until she's big enough to sit here at the counter," said the owner of the Sweet Tooth Cafe. But he has to wonder now if that's ever going to happen. Since Caldor closed a month ago, business turned sour. Raffino's shop is one of a half a dozen in discount retailer Caldor's wide lobby on the Miracle Mile shopping strip on Route 211. A more-or-less steady stream of Caldor shoppers used to pass by his door seven days a week, morning and night, and a few would stop. But the cafe relied most heavily on Caldor employees on break. They're all gone, and the once steady stream of foot traffic abruptly became a trickle when the doors to Caldor were locked for good. "We used to put on 25 hot dogs in the morning. Now I put on two," Raffino said. Several shop owners at the Caldor entrance have been set adrift by the recent loss of their anchor. "It's to the point where you wonder why you're here," said Ed Liotta, a retired Nynex cable splicer who started Gifts and Cards by James in 1994 with his wife, Fran. Since Caldor closed, business at his discount card shop has fallen "by at least half," he said. "After Mothers' Day we're probably really going to be dead," he said. Rumors of other department stores moving in have been floating around for months, he said. "My hope is that Target will move in here," he said. But that rumor was substantially dispelled yesterday when the Minnesota-based retailer announced its plans to open 35 new stores in 18 states in October – but none in Middletown, none in the Hudson Valley. Konover Development, the owner of the 190,000-square-foot strip mall on Route 211, was offering no news of prospective tenants yesterday. A company official referred questions to Caldor. "Caldor is controlling the lease," spokeswoman Laurie Murphy said Attempts to reach Caldor yesterday were unsuccessful. The Norwalk, Conn.-based company, unable to reorganize in bankruptcy, closed all 145 of its stores last month after liquidating its merchandise in going-out-of-business sales. The closings, first announced in January, included six in the mid-Hudson where Caldor had stores: Newburgh, Kingston, Vails Gate, Middletown, Wappingers Falls and Poughkeepsie. Hundreds lost their jobs. But not all the shop owners in Middletown's Caldor Plaza are singing the blues. Larger shops with more visibility and more advertising haven't been as badly hurt. "Actually we're still doing very good," said Peggy Cole, assistant manager at Rockaway Bedding, which just completed an expansion this week. Cutting Crew, a hair salon directly across the lobby from Gifts and Cards by James, hasn't cut staffing or hours, according to manager Audrey Lewis. Raffino, on the other hand, now closes shop at 3 p.m. instead of 7, and he's thinking about cutting back to three days instead of five. He's even resorted to setting up free bingo games on Wednesday mornings for senior citizens who live nearby, giving away knickknacks as prizes, just to get people in the store. "It's been tough. I'm trying to keep the store active," he said. This is the third location he's been in in the past five years, he said, starting out at the Orange Plaza mall, which died after the Galleria at Crystal Run stole its anchors. He moved next to Lloyds about three years ago, and it went out of business six months later. His stand at Caldor Plaza will be his last, he said. "I can't keep moving from place to place." |
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