Quoted Text

SCHENECTADY
Plaza to be named for store owner
BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter
Reach Gazette reporter Kathleen Moore at 395-3120 or moore@dailygazette.com.

    The man who created a community center in a corner store will be immortalized in steel today in the Stockade neighborhood.
    The plaza in front of Arthur’s Market will be renamed “Polachek Square” today to honor Arthur Polachek, who ran his store not as a businessman but as a father confessor.
    A specially designed street sign will be unveiled in a ceremony at noon.
    Polachek died on May 23, 2007, at the age of 87. For most of his life, he lived above the market in the historic Stockade neighborhood and worked downstairs. He knew the name and life story of nearly every customer. Now they won’t forget his.
    “He and his family had a huge impact on the neighborhood,” Stockade resident Beth Petta said. “He provided a space that has been kind of zoned out of the neighborhood. And that’s tragic, because having a place like this allows a neighborhood to be close and communicative.”
    Arthur’s Market is, in one sense, a simple corner store. There’s a deli, a grocery, and a great deal of coffee.
    But for half a century, there was also Arthur, standing in the corner, greeting every customer by name, asking about their children and listening to their answers. They found themselves telling him about their troubles, and then updating him each day as they stopped by for another cup of coffee or a roll of toilet paper. .....................>>>>....................>>>>.............http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....amp;EntityId=Ar01102