99 YEARS IN BUSINESS DRAWING TO A CLOSE
Sam’s Swap Shop shutting its doors; owner blames Uptown ‘gentrification’
“Basically, I did not change any formula other than what was necessitated by time. Guns and gold were predominantly the business, which have always been a huge part of this business” — Debra Kogon, owner of Sam’s Swap Shop in Uptown Kingston
A family legacy spanning four generations is coming to an end with the impending closure of Sam’s Swap Shop in Uptown Kingston.
Owner Debra Kogon, the latest “Sam” to run the shop, said her family’s buy, swap and sell business will close for good by Monday after 99 years of operation. She said the North Front Street building where the shop is located was sold to new owners who want to renovate the structure and turn it into something new.
Already, the former Kingston Clock Shop next door is closed and the space being renovated, as is an apartment upstairs where a 92-yearold woman had lived with her daughter, Kogon said. She said the new owners have treated her with kindness and respect, offering to let her stay another year to reach the 100-year anniversary of her family’s business, but the rent would have been too much for her to afford.
“This is the face of gentrification,” Kogon said Wednesday, standing in her mostly empty store. She said she cannot meet the demands of the new owners but also does not fault them. She wonders, though, where people might come from to support the incoming boutique hotels and shops in the city’s Uptown business district.
“This is a family legacy,” Kogon said of Sam’s Swap Shop. “And I wanted to honor my family.”
She said she took over the business when her father died in 2000, not wanting to see it closed because it was such a part of the community. And as hard as it has been to let the place go, Kogon said, it will be just as hard to let go of the people who have relied on Sam’s.
Kogon said there are so many people who cannot make it to their next paycheck and just need $20 or $40 to get through. She said she knows these people by name and knows the homeless and derelicts and drug addicts in the area. But she also knows people from different economic backgrounds who have come around because
the world has changed and they no longer have disposable income, as well as the people who are considered the “haves.”
“And this was a safe haven,” Kogon said.
Sam’s Swap Shop was begun in 1919 by Kogon’s greatgrandfather, Zelick Kogon.
Zelick translates to “Sam,” leading to the name of the family store.
Debra Kogon said her great-grandfather was a shoe builder who created custom footwear for people. When people could not afford to pay for the shoes he made for them, the first Sam would make a deal, she said.
“You had to pick them up,” Kogon said. “And you made a deal. Come hell or high water, you made a deal.”
Kogon said her greatgrandfather also was a gunsmith and that his business evolved into what essentially was a pawn shop, though there was no such business designation at the time. Her grandfather, Seymour Kogon, eventually took over, and then her father, Lionel. Both went by “Sam,” Kogon said.
The shop started on Broadway in Midtown Kingston, near the Sea Deli,
then moved to 76 North Front St. before ending up at 52 North Front St. in 1962, Kogon said. She said there also were versions of the shop in Cairo and Saugerties at times.
Old photos of the shops from those times show Kogon’s predecessors standing behind display counters stuffed with all kinds of goods, including jewelry, guns and military regalia. There also were musical
instruments, which came when Seymour and Lionel Kogon ran the shop. Both men were musicians, and Lionel was in the band The Thunder Birds.
Sam’s Swap Shop always was filled to the rafters with goods, Kogon said. She said she’s been selling the same kinds of items as her father, grandfather and greatgrandfather, just in different formats because technology has changed.
“Basically, I did not change any formula other than what was necessitated by time,” Kogon said. “Guns and gold were predominantly the business, which have always been a huge part of this business.”
Kogon said the store is now just a shell of its former self, left only with some things she has to remove. Once that is done, she said, she is going to take time for herself to just “watch the air.”