College Town Seeks To Define 'Chain'

"It's no secret that the Village Board wants to keep New Paltz unchained by large, out-of-town corporate businesses.

But what exactly is a chain? Is a chain composed only of hundreds of links or just a handful? And what if that handful is owned not by some faraway corporate group but a guy just down the road?

Those are the sort of questions Mayor Jason West says the Village Board is researching in light of the expected arrival of Blockheads, a Mexican restaurant that hopes to open its doors in the spring in the space now occupied by Ariel Booksellers."

Ariel Booksellers, a 34-year-old, locally owned bookstore and fixture in this quintessential college town, bit the dust on Nov. 11.

Nationally, locally originated and owned stores in college towns are being replaced by the cookie cutter franchises familiar from any mallscape.

Thanks to CollegeTownLife