Binghamton Dollar General to Reopen After Repairs are Completed

A Dollar General store that was ordered closed by Binghamton's code enforcement department shortly after it opened is expected to resume operations within the next few weeks.

The store at 68 Main Street on the city's West Side opened in early April. The building had been vacant for more than five years after a CVS Pharmacy store went out of business.

The Dollar General store suddenly closed on April 30 after water began flooding the  interior of the building following a brief afternoon rainstorm.

Store workers told firefighters that water "was pouring from the ceiling" into the store. According to the fire department, the problem was due to a problem with the drainage system from the building's roof. The water leak affected half of the store's merchandise area.

The Dollar General store eventually reopened but the problems apparently had not been corrected. A city code cited the building for seven violations after a July 5 inspection.

Problems cited included water leaking from the roof onto open electrical junction boxes in the ceiling, posing a hazard.

A city code enforcement officer on July 25 posted a notice that the building had been "condemned as unfit to occupy."

A person familiar with the situation told WNBF News that work to install a new roof on the building is scheduled to start in the next week. He said he expects the Dollar General store will be "opening up in the next month or so."

Dollar General's ten-year lease for the building started in April.

Dollar General did not respond to a request for information about the Main Street store.

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Contact WNBF News reporter Bob Joseph: bob@wnbf.com. For breaking news and updates on developing stories, follow @BinghamtonNow on Twitter.