Dollar General Coming into Sharon Springs, Manko Hopes for Reopening of Spa Properties

SHARON SPRINGS - Dollar General, which recently opened a store in the Town of Middleburgh on Route 30, is moving into another underserved market in Schoharie County: this time in the Town of Sharon Springs on Route 20. That's according to Sharon Supervisor Sandra Manko, who thinks it is a "definite thing" at this juncture.

 

 With plans of buying the old St. Mary's Church near the Wal-Mart Distribution Center, the national low-price chain is "moving ahead" after meeting with the Zoning Board of Appeals on Wednesday night. There is no current timeline for the store's construction or opening.

Although pleased with Dollar General's plans to move into the Town of Sharon, Supervisor Manko feels that despite new faces being in the community, particularly business wise, that there is no real population growth in her small municipality of 1,200 citizens - which is backed up by the most recent school census that revealed a declining figure of only 270 enrolled students at Sharon Springs Central School - a concern of hers.

One priority of Mrs. Manko, which is shared by her Village counterpart Mayor Doug Plummer, is to see the spa properties - Imperial Bathhouse, Inhalation Bathhouse, Adler Hotel, etc. - reopened not only as the tourist location they once were (drawing in thousands of Jewish travelers to the mineral water enriched bathhouses), but also as a magnet for new businesses and residents to come into the already economically booming area.

However, Rome was neither built nor destroyed in one day, and the addition of Dollar General to the Town's economic framework is definitely a step in the right direction for Mrs. Manko's hopes of growing her community's business and population base beyond where they currently stand.