Expendable Trees

Many of us think trees are an enhancement, but there are others who have different opinions. Since the strip mall where Price Chopper is located was built in 1995 or thereabouts, trees bordered the main drive approaching the stores. Granted they were Bradford pears, the unofficial tree of shopping malls and housing developments, but they provided a nice relief from the barrenness of the giant parking lot, and after twenty years of growth, they were developing into nice substantial trees.

Google Maps

However, on Sunday morning, all but four of them were cut down. Gossips took these pictures about eight hours after the devastation took place.

A woman who was there in the morning when the trees were coming down asked the men doing the deed why this was happening. She was told it was because the trees obstructed the view of the stores from Route 9.

Two years ago, Price Chopper embarked on a $300 million rebranding campaign to ditch the name that focused on low prices and adopt a new one, Market 32. In the Albany Business Review, Jerry Golub, president and CEO of the Price Chopper chain, is quoted as saying they wanted a name that reflected "the type of shopping experience our customers are looking for now and in the future." Shopping at a store with a parking lot denuded of its original landscaping hardly seems like the shopping experience anyone would want.
COPYRIGHT 2016 CAROLE OSTERINK

Thanks to Annik La Farge for providing the Google image of the trees as they were before Sunday morning