Local=Good in Historical Warwick

By JAKE KISOR

The village of Warwick New York was founded in 1764 by a group of families who were largely self-sufficient farmers. During the American Revolution Warwick made major contributions by forging the chains that kept the British from sailing into the Hudson. This, and other contributions to the revolution, have been a source of pride for the town that still maintains farms that were founded during the revolution and still has many of the founding families as active members of society.

So it should come as no surprise that Warwick has been resistant when it comes to development in their historical town. The modernization of this small town has many locals outraged as the small town mom and pop shop is, at least in appearances, being strong armed out of Warwick by the corporate machine.

According to the village of warwick history page it was the combined efforts of the warwick historical society and the chamber of commerce that narrowly survived “the mall-mania of the 1980s and 90s [while] maintaining the integrity and commercial vitality of its central business district.”

The low population of Warwick has contributed to its ability to resist large chain businesses. In 2012 the population had just capped 6,500 citizens. This and other statistics meant that Warwick was an unlikely target for large corporations. With the increased popularity of the towns major annual event Applefest, which draws thousands of people from surrounding areas and beyond, Warwick has drawn some unwanted attention.

Corporate Influence

Until quite recently the only corporate businesses in Warwick were RadioShack, Burger King and CVS. All of which had to fight an uphill battle to open and suffer continued scrutiny from the older generations of Warwick residents. Many view the businesses as actively pushing out locally owned and run counterparts.

A letter to the editor of the Warwick Advertiser, the local paper for warwick, from local resident Russ Layne stated clearly the reasons he doesn’t support corporate business.

“Instead, in downtown Warwick, we have a thriving Burger King and CVS – businesses that feign the practice of community spirit: No public bulletin boards; the avoidance of facilitating the distribution of non-mainstream arts, health and political publications; homogenized, unaesthetic structures with little if any character where faceless employees carry on their daily, boring routines.”

CVS replaced a grocery store and is less than 200 feet away from Akins pharmacy, which has obviously been overshadowed by the power and convenience of the chain pharmacy, Burger King is viewed by many residents as unsightly and putting pressure on the myriad of local eateries which can’t compete with the low prices of the chain while maintaining the quality of food locals have come to expect.

“Nobody wanted a fast-food place in town” says longtime resident James Hilton, “Warwick is a very tight knit community. We support our local businesses, but there is only so much you can do when billion dollar companies decide they are going to build somewhere.”

RadioShack met little resistance due to the fact that it filled a market that didn’t have a local counterpart.

Not everyone was completely against the corporations, many millennials were excited at the fact that there might be something for them to do in the small rural town. While many wouldn’t consider Burger King or CVS something to do, it created job opportunities for high school kids and quick food access for afterschool hangouts.

“In high school we used to walk to town every Friday, after the long walk it was great to have someplace to grab some food without having to go to a sit down place,” says Jesse Bonier, 24, reminiscing about high school. “A bunch of people I knew got their first jobs with CVS because they would hire 16 year olds.”

This pattern of slow development and heavy resistance from the power wielding older generation continued until last summer when a wave of development hit Warwick with a mix of local and big name businesses.  Despite having to cut through less red tape to open, the subway and Verizon were only allowed to open on the outskirts of town and as part of their agreement with the chamber of commerce and the building owner the other spaces in the building will be filled by locally owned stores.

This set things in motion for one of the most controversial openings in Warwick history.

Mainstreet USA

Before the Verizon finalized their lease with the building owner Dunkin Donuts had been inquiring about renting the space, after Verizon opened their store the Dunkin donuts was forced to open elsewhere.

“I guess I wasn’t too surprised about the arrival of Dunkin Donuts. I don’t know if my customers go there,” says Kristen Cilliberti, co-owner of the Tuscan Café. ”We have had a lot of positive feedback from regulars stating they won’t ever go.”

Scan this to quick link to the Tuscan Cafe’s twitter

For more than 15 years the Tuscan café has been a part of Warwick and become something of a local hotspot. Up until recently the Tuscan only competed with other locally owned café’s like Café A La Mode, and Charlottes Tea Room. Despite Dunkin Donuts building a store almost across the street from the Tuscan, co-owner Kristen remains optimistic about new business opening up.

“There’s always competition between all the cafés in town and having Dunkin Donuts [open up] did not affect us much because we have a certain atmosphere that other places don’t have. Like-wise with our coffee products and things we offer such as music events.”

Still there are many locals who don’t share her optimism. And it’s come from an age group that had previously been supportive of development.

“I think it’s wrong that the town let the Dunkin donuts come in all together, there were four coffee shops in the town and they put one, legitimately within a hundred feet of one of our coffee shops,” says Tuscan regular and lifetime Warwick resident Nick Vojtek, 23. “A lot of these places are outstanding in the community, Tuscan Cafe helps out a lot, and I think it hurts the town all together to put something like a Dunkin Donuts in.”

Kristen Cilliberti and Cristy Ranieri have co-owned the Tuscan since 2006 in that time they have transformed the Tuscan café into a mecca for the local music scene. This has brought many of the younger generation into the opposite side of the argument.

“It’s important to support small business, with occupy wallstreet and everything it’s really clear that the little guy is suffering. A strong sense of community is important in a small town like Warwick,” says Laura Garcia, 18. “Community holds us together especially around the holidays. You just don’t get that feeling at places like Dunkin Donuts.”