In the past year, Main Street in Gardiner has been transformed from a sleepy strip to a bustling retail center as eight new businesses opened their doors.
Less than a mile away at the intersection of Routes 32 and 44, a branch of Ulster Savings Bank and The Gold Fox Restaurant recently opened, both in historic buildings.
The rejuvenation of Gardiner”™s Main Street was anything but accidental. A dedicated business association and the vision of property owner Robin Hayes in particular have been key to helping turn the town around.
“I saw the potential for a nice walkable main street,” said Hayes, a town resident who bought three buildings, renovated them and rented out space in two of them to businesses. In marketing the commercial spaces, she sought “services residents could use, so that when it wasn”™t tourism season there were things useful locally.”
The Village Market & Bakery opened a year and a half ago in a building Hayes owns with two other women. Caf̩ tables behind the old-fashioned storefront windows encourage customers to linger. Next door, Hayes turned a former residence into a commercial building that is now home to Tiger Lily Jewelers, RicciӪs Barber Shop, a Pilates studio and a chiropractor.
Colleen Rifkind, who owns the jewelry store, has lived in Gardiner for 15 years and formerly managed jewelry shops in the mall. “It”™s so nice being close to home,” said Rifkind, who has a bachelor”™s degree in goldsmithing from SUNY New Paltz and crafts some of the pieces she sells. While she said she needed to “do more advertising to let people know I”™m here,” the overall response to her store, which opened in September, has been very positive. Plus, having other stores and two cafes ”“ the other is the popular Red Rooster ”“ within easy walking distance meant she can do repair work for customers on the spot, since they have something to do while they wait.
Next door, business has been good at Ricci”™s Barber Shop. Proprietor Cindy Ricci said promoting the new location at her longtime barber shop in New Paltz gave her a boost. She opened the second location at Hayes”™ beckoning.
“It”™s a totally different clientele,” Ricci said, noting the customers in Gardiner were older and included mountain climbers, bicyclists and skydivers. “We get a lot of New Yorkers and they can”™t believe the prices.”
Upstairs, David Loewen shows off his new Pilates studio in a light-filled room under the eaves. Loewen, who moved with his wife from Toronto to Kingston, said he had planned to open his business in Rhinebeck, but decided Ulster County was a better fit.
“I physically love this place,” he said. “It”™s lovely to be in nature.” He said Hayes offered the space rent free in December, his first month in business, although he attracted enough business to cover the rent. He hopes to draw customers from the towns to the south.
Farther down Main Street, the Lightsey Cycles bike shop rents out bikes to city visitors who head for the rail trail, which traverses the town, or nearby Minnewaska State Park Preserve. Owner Kirk Lightsey, who opened the shop last spring, said the town appealed to him over New Paltz because it lacks the college town”™s traffic congestion. The tourism business booms in the summer and dies off in the fall; repair work and sales for locals keeps him going.
The tiny business district is anchored by the 3,000-square-foot HiHo Home Market and Antique Center, across the street. Heidi Hill-Haddard bought the ancient antiques store three years ago, renovated the space and reopened it as an emporium selling both old and new home goods.
She is also president of the Gardiner Association of Business (GAB), which has 140 members ”“ an astounding number for a town with a population under 1,000. She said GAB has tripled in size over the past three years and has given businesses an effective voice.
The town recently got a state grant to put in sidewalks. The renovation of town hall and the new library, which will be completed later this year, are two developments on the civic side that are helping the town”™s appeal.
Tourism is a strong draw, thanks to the Shawangunk ridge, the rail trail, parachuting on Blue Sky Farm, the bed and breakfasts and several wineries, Hill-Haddard said. Gardiner is also home to two prominent companies: Kiss My Face, which sells all-natural body care products, and Arthur Lauer, a leading teak-furniture company.
Hill-Haddard said that Gardiner serves three kinds of customers ”“ residents, weekenders with second homes and tourists. Hill-Haddard credited Hayes”™ strategizing with establishing businesses that seemed poised to succeed, noting there had been a lot of turnover in the past. “This is not a haphazard thing. It”™s about what else do we need that will help everybody else.”™
“It wasn”™t too hard to get the right businesses,” Hayes said. “I had the vision and people just came to me.” She said the literature on new urbanism was a source of valuable ideas on how to build a sustainable Main Street. What”™s needed now, she said, is a stationery shop, offering photo copying and selling basic supplies such as envelopes and poster board. “Both home businesses and those on Main Street need these support items,” she said.
In the meantime, “Gardiner is on its way to being well accessorized, well groomed, well toned, and well adjusted,” she said, referring to four of her tenants.
