“There were a lot of mistakes along the way that higher-ups made, and no one cared to fix,” one Tops employee told us.

The individual, who wished to remain anonymous, works at Tops Friendly Markets in Ellenville. She was there when the store opened on June 8, 2025. It was her first time opening a store. Now, she said, she is sad to see it close and will miss her job, but she is not surprised.

“I was shocked that we didn’t get any notice and I had gone to work that morning and was told,” she said. “We knew the store wasn’t doing well because there wasn’t that many customers and the prices were too high.”

Before the closure was announced, her starting time pushed back an hour from, 7 a.m. to 8 a.m., and she said one day it was bumped to 9 a.m. due to lack of business. She had also heard complaints from customers, especially seniors, that prices were too high. She said she also struggled with the high prices, and would usually only use the supermarket for sales while relying on Walmart for most of her groceries.

Joseph Stoeckeler, the Wawarsing town supervisor, said he learned about the closing on September 17, the same day as everyone else. Stoeckeler believes wider issues could have impacted the store’s success.

“The two that come to mind that I think all of us can relate to is the effect of online shopping with consumers versus traditional brick-and-motor stores,” he said. “Secondly, it is very hard right now, given the economic climate. The cost of goods, inflation, transportation, fuel costs.”

Evan Trent, the mayor of Ellenville, said that he learned Tops Friendly Markets was closing “very quickly through the grapevine,” and that while he does not know how long internally the store was discussing closing, the decision felt “very abrupt.” Trent said that the news was “unfortunate.”

“This was something that was fought for and quickly resolved that we got another supermarket in the greater area,” Trent said. “It is unfortunate that we won’t have a true, dedicated supermarket.”

Tops is not the only store that has struggled to stay open in Ellenville. Before Tops, ShopRite operated in the same spot for three decades before closing in 2024. Nearby, Pat Peters ran Peters Market for decades with her husband, Dick, before it closed January 2020 and was purchased by a new owner.

Peters said they chose to sell the store due to their age and because it “was not doing as well as it should,” noting that her son would have likely taken over the store if it was still as successful as it used to be.

While Peters points to a smaller, lower-income population as a challenge for supermarkets, she said, “Walmart was our downfall.”

Walmart opened at the former Napanoch Valley Mall site in October 2013, and heavily affected the grocery landscape.

“I think that the area is too small for a supermarket to compete with Walmart,” Pat said. “We were there for 47 years and we were competitive against every supermarket in the area, and it was only Walmart that we could not be competitive with.”

Peters is not the only one who feels Walmart makes it difficult for other grocery stores.

“Walmart is part of our community, but I’m also not naive enough to realize that it’s going to be hard for other business to be sustainable given their price model,” Stoeckeler said. “It’s a big box store, a global business that has certain avenues for goods that the smaller mom-and-pop stores or even smaller chains like Tops just can’t compete with.”

Stoeckeler said he believed this is part of the reason why ShopRite closed, saying, “I don’t believe they were the same since Walmart opened up.”

Trent said that he believes the greatest challenge for supermarkets in Ellenville is “you have an organization like Walmart right next door.” Any future supermarket, Trent said, would have to be “super price competitive.”

On the day the closing was announced, one senior citizen expressed frustration that he does not drive and, without a store on the plaza, he would have to make a more challenging commute to Walmart.

“One of the greatest challenges we have in Ellenville is we are a little urban center in the middle of the mountains without a lot of the transportation access that Kingston or Middletown has,” Trent said. “I feel terribly for the seniors who live right across the street from Tops, and it’s such an easier access point for them.”

Trent said that they are still waiting to “see how it’s all going to flesh out” with a micro-transit grant Ulster County received to provide "tentatively, on-demand transit in the village to surrounding areas.” That could include getting Ellenville residents who don’t drive to Walmart.

“I first think about the people with limited or no transportation. Specifically, our seniors, which I consider one of our more vulnerable segments of our population. What are they going to do now?” Stoeckeler said. “And then the everyday residents have to travel upwards of 20 minutes if they want to get certain groceries. That’s more time, more resources, more fuel. It just further stresses what everyone’s living with right now.”

Stoeckeler also said that there is “no doubt” that the closure will impact the local economy as people who would grocery shop at the Tops plaza and then visit neighboring stores will instead take their “residual business” to other towns.

As for what – if any – supermarket will replace Tops Friendly Markets, Trent said it has yet to be decided, but that the town needs to focus on what supermarket could “have a really good shot” at surviving in the community.

“I think everybody’s just trying to digest what the best next step is,” Trent said. “I think whatever ends up happening and whatever pursuit is made, it’s got to be real focused here because I think it’s clear that a normal supermarket is going to have a difficult time thriving.”

Stoeckeler said that he has called the county executive’s office to have a discussion with them and their economic team to figure out next steps and what the town can do with the property owner. His goal, Stoeckeler said, is to resolve this “as soon as possible.” Stoeckeler said that he is also interested in speaking to the manager of Tops Friendly Markets, but said that he does not expect an immediate response as it is a “sensitive matter.”

A statement from Ulster County Executive Jen Metzger calls the closure a "devastating loss” for Ellenville and the surrounding communities, and states the county’s Economic Development Department “will work closely with Ellenville on a broader strategy to retain and grow businesses and encourage growth in ways that support our communities.”

Metzger’s statement said they will make an effort to discuss with ShopRite and Tops and local officials to discuss what went wrong with previous grocery stores in order to identify conditions to open a successful one. But many residents feel with Walmart nearby, it will be an uphill battle.

“I think that Walmart is important for the area because it offers all the things that we would normally have to go out of town for. Walmart is not a bad thing, it’s just not [good] for supermarkets,” Peters said. “I don’t think supermarkets can compete unless it was something like an Aldi’s, which is low-priced. I think Hannaford is too smart to come into Ellenville because the pricing is not going to be as low. Walmart will always be a problem for a conventional supermarket.”

“You cannot describe a healthy community without including a grocery store,” Stoeckeler said.

The employees of Tops in Ellenville, including the one we spoke to, are being relocated to new locations to avoid job loss. That employee was offered a job in New Paltz, which is an hour away from where she lives.

“I guess I’m going to have no choice but to go to New Paltz,” she said.