Retailer will close 2nd store

GOUVERNEUR — Fashion Kraze will close its Gouverneur store at the end of the month because of a lack of sales, the same reason it recently closed its Ogdensburg shop.

"The sales weren't what we anticipated. We had high hopes," said Richard A. Greenspan, president of Masters Inc., which specializes in discounted name-brand clothing. "When we were in WiseBuys, they were five times greater."

Masters opened some of its own stores in the north country after WiseBuys merged with Hacketts and Masters no longer supplied the clothing line.

The Gouverneur store is in part of the Remington Furniture Co. building, 67 E. Main St. The Ogdensburg store, which was smaller, was in the Price Chopper plaza.

Gouverneur Mayor Dorothy L. Vorce said she was sorry to see Fashion Kraze leave, especially since the recent closing of Carolina's Greek & American Restaurant means another empty storefront on Main Street.

"I hate to see them go, but if they can't make a living, they can't make a living," Mrs. Vorce said.

The Gouverneur Fashion Kraze employed six people and the Ogdensburg store about five.

Fashion Kraze in Canton recently moved from Midtown Shopping Plaza to University Shopping Plaza in part of the space vacated when Hacketts closed there. Since the move, Canton sales have picked up, Mr. Greenspan said.

Masters also operates Fashion Kraze in Tupper Lake, Cicero and Oswego, and is looking at opening stores in Potsdam, Lake Placid and Cortland, he said.