Sunnydale Farms & Village Café Closes - Leaves Gap in Community

In 1973, Nirmal Singh and Jogi Singh (not related) opened Sunnydale Farms at 721 Saw Mill River Road, in Ardsley. Sunnydale Farms would later expand and encompass the Village Café and has been open every day for the last thirty years. This is a remarkable feat given most businesses fail in the first five years. Their longtime employee, David McCleary, started working for them in high school and has been at the restaurant since.

The Singhs have closed both locations and the future of this shopping strip mall includes putting in a Vietnamese restaurant and a Citibank branch. Apparently, there are not enough banks, drug stores, high price restaurants in our area. The landscape of Westchester, and for that matter, New York and the nation, is slowly changing into big corporations, eroding the small-town feel of Ardsley, and ultimately every Village and Town. Shopping locally is becoming more and more difficult to do.

ABG doesn't believe more large chains stores such as CVS’, Walgreens, Rite Aids, Sam’s Clubs, Chase, Citibank and others, necessarily helps a village have that hometown feel. We do need grocery stores, hardware stores, stationery stores, bakeries, auto repair shops, local drug stores, opticians and other types of small businesses in our communities. We need them because these are the people who own and the run the businesses and support and finance our communities. Otherwise, while it may not hurt to have the chain-stores in our communities, an executive at their corporate headquarters making decisions on how to run an Ardsley store can't be good. In the end, the Village Café was a part of the fabric of Ardsley and ultimately, Westchester County.  “The community loved us and welcomed us," Jogi said. "It was an honor and a privilege for us. We are thankful to everybody.”

We wish them the best of luck and hope they are able to relocate within Ardsley. They’ll be missed.