Entrepreneurship is Alive and Well – and Found in Saranac Lake

The glow of a successful entrepreneurial effort is gleaming in the center of the Adirondacks, bringing light to this dark time of year. And what must make it even more satisfying for the owners of the Community Store in Saranac Lake is that it has garnered generous and approving national and regional media attention from The New York Times and the Albany Times Union.

Photo from the Community Store's website shows racks of clothing and other necessities for sale in Saranac Lake.

What began as a spark of an idea – develop a community store for residents of the Olympic Region to shop locally for necessities – has become reality with a $500,000 investment by members of the community that transformed a 4,000-square-foot vacant storefront into a bustling center of commerce – all made possible by local investors.

The Adirondacks are not an easy place to do business – as pointed out in the Times Union story on the opening of the Community Store – but Adirondackers are used to fighting the odds and surviving. Now, after hundreds of people bought $100 shares in the Community Store, Adirondackers can show the world the true social entrepreneurial spirit.

As a resident told The New York Times: “This is a small town trying to help itself.”

The feat of creating a community-owned general store – and getting the community outside the Blue Line to pay attention – is just the most recent example of Adirondack entrepreneurs bringing light to their communities socially and economically:

• In Keene, a pair of local businesspeople headed a project that, with local investment and local companies, wired 97% of year-round homes with broadband Internet, with the goal of giving the students at Keene Central School access to the Internet at home. A parallel goal was to open telecommuter possibilities, bringing more people to live in the town and put children in the local school. Keene, NY, now has the most widespread broadband network in the Adirondack Park.
• In Tupper Lake, volunteers from ARISE – a locally created not-for-profit – gathered interested volunteers and local businesses to rebuild and operate Big Tupper Ski Area as an affordable ski and snowboarding experience. Last year, volunteers came in droves to groom and patrol the slopes and operate the chairlifts and sell tickets and foods. The families and individuals who come to ski and snowboard bring money into the community, get a great day on the slopes, and help get the word out about what a great experience it is.

Congratulations to the owners of the Community Store for demonstrating that the Adirondacks are open for business. And well done to The New York Times, Times Union, Adirondack Daily Enterprise, Press-Republican and other media outlets for seeing the story for what it is – a bright light for the Adirondacks in a dark economic time.

— Pat Dowd