LETTER TO CVS PRESIDENT

Former Store An Eyesore,

Please Help Cooperstown

Editor’s Note: Bill Waller of Cooperstown sent this letter Monday, April 22, to Kevin Hourican, president, CVS, in Woonsocket, R.I., about the two-year vacancy of the company’s downtown Cooperstown store.

Dear Mr. Hourican,

I am writing to inform you of a situation with one of your properties located in Cooperstown, New York. You recently constructed a new CVS store in our Village and vacated your former location on our Main Street. It is my understanding that you are continuing with your lease on this abandoned property through September, 2019.

While we have welcomed you into our community and admire and support your new location, your former store has become an eyesore right on our quaint Main Street. Our Main Street has recently undergone a massive renovation, adding pavers, rain gardens and new foliage; all to complement the small town atmosphere for which Cooperstown is world famous.

And the world will be here in force this July and throughout the summer to visit the Baseball Hall of Fame and attend the annual Induction Ceremony, this year starring the only unanimously elected inductee, Mariano Rivera. While our average Induction Weekend attendance is always in the tens of thousands, this year we are predicting record-setting visitors. Our previous one-day record was about 82,000.

In addition, we have families attending our summer-long Little League-age weekly baseball tournaments at the Cooperstown Dreams Park. That venue brings about 100 Little League teams and their families each week to watch their children play baseball.

There are also other weekly baseball tournament venues in the area that, all totaled, including the world renowned Glimmerglass
Opera Festival, The Fenimore Art Museum and The Farmers’ Museum bring almost 1 million people to our streets.

As the attached photos show, your former store, well-known as “the old CVS store” is an eyesore right in the center of our Main Street business district. With the interior lights constantly on, passersby are treated to the interior of an abandoned store. Last summer you allowed the Glimmerglass Opera use the building for scenery construction, but the windows and frontage remain as seen today.

That usage was greatly appreciated and seen as a nice community gesture on the part of CVS, but comments still were made about the property’s overall appearance. I have some suggestions but I do not want to limit your options for improving the looks of this building.

We have another large building, right across the street from this location,that is in the process of repurposing. Its owner has opted to cover their large display windows with scenes promoting their area attractions,  The Fenimore Art and Farmers’ museums. These paper displays cover their entire windows and provide information to the Main Street visitor.

Some of my limited  suggestions include:
• Decorative or informational window-covering panels.
• If again lent to the Glimmerglass Festival, then perhaps a grant from CVS to the Festival for window panel treatments promoting the Opera.
• Even children’s finger paints would delight us grandparents as we go by.
Again, we appreciate
the commitment to Cooperstown made by CVS by virtue of your newest location, but have to bring to your attention the situation of your former location.

Sincerely,
WILLIAM WALLER
Cooperstown