Official positive space will fill

POTSDAM — The village's economic development specialist, James A. Murphy, is confident that another major retailer will step in to fill the void when Hacketts closes on outer Market Street in the coming days.

"I'm a big believer that the free market works pretty well," Mr. Murphy said.

Hacketts announced Wed-nesday that the company is closing its 40,000-square-foot store in Potsdam and instead will focus business on operations in Ogdensburg.

The company's decision will leave 60,000 square feet of the 92,493-square-foot Hacketts Plaza empty. In May, Canadian retailer Giant Tiger also closed next to Hacketts, leaving a 20,000-square-foot retail hole.

Hacketts Plaza is owned by Gibraltar Management Co., Tarrytown, and is home to Save-A-Lot Foods, Kinney Drugs, The UPS Store, a Chinese restaurant and The Lounge bar.

Mr. Murphy said that the 60,000-square-foot gap in the plaza will be a challenge to fill, but that the overall village economy is solid. He said he's confident another major retailer will find an opportunity where Hacketts could not.

"At one time, the Potsdam Hacketts store was the second-best-producing store in their chain," Mr. Murphy said. "It's bad news Hacketts is closing, but the problems with Hacketts in Potsdam were not created by the Potsdam economy."

In April, officials in Potsdam said about two dozen storefronts were vacant, but Mr. Murphy said many of those vacancies now have tenants.

"It's easy to look at Hacketts closing, but you have to point to what is happening overall," he said. "All of the little stores that were once empty are now filling up fast. The colleges have record enrollment."

He said new businesses now open or opening soon in the village include a family steak house where the Indian Carnival Restaurant used to be, a Thai restaurant on Maple Street, a new law office on Market Street where Our Greener Home used to be and the new Go Mascots retail outlet in the spot vacated by Wireless World.

"The available spaces are becoming less and less," Mr. Murphy said.

The Hacketts store in Potsdam will close within a matter of days, according to Herbert L. Becker, vice president of store chain owner Seaway Valley Capital Corp.

Mr. Becker called retail sales at the Potsdam store "pathetic" Wednesday, and said a decision was made to close the space in order to bolster business at the company's Ogdensburg-based Hacketts. There also are Hacketts stores in Gouverneur, Massena, Sackets Harbor and Tupper Lake.