Citizens in Poughkeepsie, NY are currently in a struggle with Rite Aid and local developers who are trying to build a 9,000+ s.f. convenience store with a drive thru window in the historic Hooker Avenue neighborhood. The Hooker Avenue Neighborhood Association (HANA) says the Rite Aid plan calls for the demolition of a 150 year old building, and the displacement of 3 small local businesses. Rite Aid already has a presence in this area. The Camp Hill, PA-based retailer already has a Rite Aid store ONE BLOCK AWAY! The company says its current store cannot meet its “customer demands”, despite the fact that HANA gathered more than 500 signatures of local residents who “demand” that Rite Aid stay put. Rite Aid claims that they have been in touch with HANA over the issue of design of the building, but HANA representatives say that aesthetics is only one of their concerns. “We attempted to communicate with Rite Aid officials,” HANA said, “but received frustratingly canned responses…” The larger store would be an “out-of-scale nuisance in our community,” HANA says. The new store would be next to the Friends Meeting House, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Poughkeepsie Planning Board has resisted citizen calls for an environmental impact study of this project. Threatening historic properties seems to be standard operating procedure for Rite Aid, as evidenced in communities like Claremont and Henniker, NH, Peekskill, NY, and other communities profiled in this website. Rite Aid’s excuse: our customers made us do it.
For further info on Rite Aid’s adventures in Poughkeepsie, email HANA at [email protected]
