Arthur’s, a Stockade fixture, goes up for sale

SCHENECTADY — The housing market collapse may doom Arthur’s Market.

The Stockade neighborhood’s beloved gathering point, considered the oldest continually operated market in the country, is up for sale.

It’s not because business is bad. On the contrary, business is great. And owners Artur and Joyce Wachala love the store, Artur’s dream job. Their daughter loves her school, too.

But the Wachalas are still paying a mortgage on their former home in Ballston Spa, a house they have been trying to sell for more than a year. Arthur’s Market is doing well — but not well enough to support two mortgages.

When the Wachalas moved to Schenectady to take over Arthur’s Market, they never thought they would still be paying the Ballston Spa mortgage 15 months later. But with the decline in home values, the loss of buyers and the drastic decrease in home loans, it doesn’t look likely that they’ll sell anytime soon.

In recent months they have even put their eight-unit Schenectady apartment building up for sale in hopes of making enough money to pay off their extra mortgage and keep the market. But not even the guaranteed income of a house that is fully rented was enough to tempt any buyers.

Now the Wachalas may have to sell the market to make ends meet. They’re hoping one of the other buildings will go first, leaving them solvent so they can continue to live their dream.

“I don’t know what we’re going to do,” Joyce said. “We’re just going to keep going.”

She and Artur are hoping the market won’t sell. Artur has even tried to keep the decision a secret, insisting at first that it was “just a rumor,” even though his Realtor has been advertising the market in The Daily Gazette.

The secret has been guarded well — most of their customers don’t seem to know that the Wachalas are struggling. They continually ask about the market’s liquor license and other expensive amenities that the Wachalas can no longer afford.

“A lot of people are like, ‘You haven’t got your liquor license yet?’ ” Joyce said. “That is another $1,000 we don’t have right now.”

Even a lotto machine is expensive — it costs more than $600 in the first year, although that may later be offset by the 6 percent commission on lottery sales. The Wachalas have removed their lottery machine.

They’re pinning their hopes on two buildings: 1051 Gillespie St. in Schenectady and 557 Plummer Road in Ballston Spa.

With neither one selling, their agent is advertising that the Ballston Spa house — which is on 12.4 acres — could become a new subdivided neighborhood. That hasn’t drawn any potential buyers either, possibly because new house construction is down significantly with the housing market crash. The Wachalas are asking $260,000 for that house.

In Schenectady, they wanted $189,000 for the Gillespie Street apartment building. They cut that down to $160,000, emphasized that every bedroom is filled and that they have enough parking for every tenant, and still they have no takers.

Joyce Wachala said she was desperate to sell one of the buildings to keep the market. Arthur’s bustled for decades under owners Peter and Arthur Polachek, who retired in 2004 and rented the market twice to proprietors who tried to succeed with high-end, upscale products.

When they failed, the Polacheks turned to Artur Wachala, who had worked for them for years in hopes of buying the market. Artur promised to run the market the way the Polacheks had — to restore the casual, friendly atmosphere and the shelves of basic, necessary groceries.

Neighbors flocked to the store before it had even officially opened, buying groceries as soon as Artur unloaded his first shipment of food.

None of the market’s loyal customers want to take a chance with another owner, considering the performance of the previous two.

“There isn’t any other place to go that’s casual like this without getting in the car,” said Virginia Laumeister of Niskayuna, who met a friend at the market after a morning of volunteer work at the nearby First Reformed Church of Schenectady.

Regular customer Jason Baker of Schenectady added, “The people that own it make it a nice place to hang out and eat. When you come down here, yeah you pay for your food, but it’s like being at home.”

As his 2-year-old son raced up and down the aisles and played with the Wachalas’ 4-year-old daughter, he said the market was also the only place in the area that truly welcomes children. A drawer under the muffins counter holds crayons and coloring books. On Tuesday, three unrelated children were playing together at a table near Artur’s cash register, and customers said they bring their children to the market just so they can play with other children.

“They don’t turn their nose up to kids,” Baker said. “They have kids of their own. They don’t say your kid is too loud.”

Joyce Wachala doesn’t want that community atmosphere to be lost.

“It’s a family place and I like it as a family place. I don’t want it to be a 7-11. I want it to be Arthur’s Market,” she said.

The market has continued under a variety of owners since 1795.