x635 Quoted In The NY Times Today...

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If anyone has today's (Sunday) New York Times, pull out the Westchester section and go to page 2. In the article about Barnes and Noble in Hartsdale closing, our very own x635 is quoted.

Barnes & Noble to Close in Hartsdale

The Hartsdale stretch of Central Avenue has seen better days, with the movie theater and several stores closing in the past year. Now, Barnes & Noble has announced it will shut its store on the avenue early next year after its lease expires in the spring, raising concerns about the retail area. The bookstore has been at the site since 1992.

Paul J. Feiner, Greenburgh’s supervisor, said he was worried about the type of store that would fill the space after Barnes & Noble leaves. Besides the theater, he said, a steakhouse, a furniture store, a gasoline station and a diner had also closed over the past year. A bank moved into the diner space, but the others remained vacant. Mr. Feiner said that to fill the Barnes & Noble space, he wanted a store that would draw people to the area.

“I hope we won’t have another drugstore,” he said. “We want to make sure it’s not just a street that’s occupied, but a street that’s special.”

Mr. Feiner said Barnes & Noble and the movie theater were destination sites. “I don’t think there will be a problem filling up the space, I don’t think there will be a vacancy, but Barnes & Noble was a nice place to go, to relax, to not feel pressured to buy anything,” he said.

William Hesse, president of Aries Deitch & Endelson, the retail brokerage firm that is looking for a new client for the Barnes & Noble space, said a number of national retailers, including furniture, sporting goods and apparel companies, have shown interest in the 16,200-square-foot store.

“It’s a pretty proven area,” he said. “Businesses in the immediate vicinity have thrived.”

Mr. Feiner said Town Hall could not control what business rented the space, but he would be looking at what else could be done to keep businesses — and shoppers — on that stretch of Central Avenue. He said he expected his 2007 budget to include a proposal to study the area.

Seth ********, 27, a Hartsdale firefighter, said he would like to see a better mix of stores there.

“There’s hardly any variety of down-to-earth retail,” he said, citing the loss of the diner and a toy store that closed a few years ago. “Everything is very high end or low end.”

ERIN DUGGAN