As Tourism Season Approaches, One Grocery Store To Serve Central Otsego

By ERIC SANTOMAURO-STENZEL
COOPERSTOWN

In January of this year, Grand Union announced the March closure of its supermarkets in Norwich and Hartwick Seminary. As the tourism season and the thousands of visitors and youth baseball families it brings begins to kick into gear, that leaves one full-size supermarket to serve central Otsego County: the Price Chopper at 113 Chestnut Street in Cooperstown.

“It was definitely the first stop of many Dreams Park families,” Cooperstown Mayor Ellen Tillapaugh said of the 5 Commons Drive Grand Union grocery store. “I think where it’s going to hit us, and I’ve heard this from Cooperstown residents, if that store is gone on those changeover days, our Price Chopper is going to be, we think, inundated.”

The Grand Union was a short drive from the Cooperstown Dreams Park baseball fields, where hundreds of youth baseball teams compete each year. Families would often shop at the Grand Union while their players competed for multiple days. The Cooperstown Dreams Park website lists 14 tournaments that occurred from the end of May to mid-August in 2025.

According to New York State Department of Transportation traffic count data measured in June 2024, the NY-28 entrance to the shopping plaza with the Grand Union saw 9,980 in annual average daily traffic flow, mostly from personal vehicles.

In a statement, NYSDOT said that they do not have jurisdiction over Chestnut Street near the Price Chopper. “Our most recent data for the segment between the former Grand Union and where State Route 28 transitions to Chestnut Street near Price Chopper shows no concerning roadway or crash patterns, with crash rates below the statewide average; congestion is generally limited to peak tourism events.”

Ryan Geraghty, the marketing and communications director for the nonprofit Destination Marketing Corporation, said the organization anticipated challenges after the closure of Grand Union and created a guide for incoming visitors. DMC serves as the county’s official tourism promotion agency.

“We do have a grocery store in Cooperstown, but, you know, it’s definitely not going to be able to fill the capacity,” Geraghty said, so the organization’s guide points to other options in addition to the Price Chopper. Those options include the Dollar General on Route 28, the Cooperstown Farmers’ Market when open, and the small businesses throughout the area. Geraghty also encouraged visitors to use the rest of the stores and restaurants in the shopping plaza where Grand Union was located.

“Our honest advice: Shop before you get here,” reads bold text in the DMC guide. The blog post encourages utilizing options in Oneonta if on the way. Of the Price Chopper, it says: “It can help in a pinch, but it is not equipped to serve the full grocery needs of several hundred visiting families simultaneously,” referencing its size and limited parking availability.

Tillapaugh hoped that over the long run, improvements to the walkability of the area near the Price Chopper will ease any potential issues. After Labor Day, an approximately $2.5 million project funded by the NYSDOT is planned to “construct a new sidewalk from Walnut Street down Route 28 to connect to our Linden Avenue extension,” including pedestrian signals and crosswalks.

That still leaves a space right at the Price Chopper, which Tillapaugh said “is something we’re really focused on.”
Extending the sidewalk up to the Price Chopper will require navigating infrastructure like the railroad tracks present there and working with property owners, including NYSEG and Price Chopper, Tillapaugh said.

AllOtsego called the Cooperstown Price Chopper seeking an interview, and was directed to Price Chopper’s corporate media relations team. Price Chopper acknowledged but did not return the request for comment by press time.