Give Warwick a chance

To the editor: In the past two weeks, many words of sadness, disappointment and frustration have poured in over the closing of The Bookstore. I share every one of these emotions and believe that the closing of The Bookstore is the beginning of a down trend in Warwick economy, but it doesn’t have to be. We all have been told that we need to buy locally, that we need to support the local stores, but it is sometimes hard to connect the dots and clearly understand why we need to shop locally. We need to shop locally because the value of our real estate - most people’s biggest investment in life - depends on it. Most of us newcomers moved to Warwick because one day we drove through and saw a beautiful landscape, a beautiful and charming downtown and house prices that were below Bergen County and decided “why not?” For the same reasons many people have moved to Warwick and, as a result, the prices of our investments have gone up. Great. But in order to keep the value of our homes, we need to maintain what makes the village of Warwick special. And I have to say, it’s not the beautiful landscape alone. The same landscape you can find throughout Orange County but the only vibrant, charming and high-end downtown you find is Warwick. What makes the Village of Warwick special and a prized neighborhood to live in is its unique independently owned stores, its local hospital with friendly service, its local library, the local farmers market, the wineries, even locally produced bread and cheese, and above all the local people who care and support all of this. But because most of us still commute to work to Bergen County or Manhattan, we are still in the habit of doing most of our shopping on the way home. All I’m asking for, as a resident and as a local store owner, is that you give Warwick a chance. Not asking you to buy locally if we don’t have the quality you are looking for, or if we are more expensive than other stores (considering the cost of your gas); times are hard and we all have to watch our wallets. All I am asking that you put us in the equation and do your comparison shopping with us in mind. If we lose, we lose. But at the end, Warwick will win. Sussan Chakamian Warwick