Dingman runs Altamont Sunoco
New management for old store



ALTAMONT — The Altamont Sunoco, once called Ketchum’s, is settling into new hands.

As of Oct. 1, Michael Dingman will officially take over the 10-year lease and manage the gas station and convenience store in the center of the village.
"We felt it was best for the store and best for the town," said James Metz, president of GRGH, the Connecticut company that bought the store in July for $787,500. GRGH still owns the property, but it has changed the lessee.
The previous lessee, David Singh, had been with GRGH for 20 years and had been part of the "transition team" for three months before the sale, according to GRGH’s lawyer, Matthew Sgambettera. Singh could not be reached for comment.

Yesterday, Metz said that Dave Singh’s son was actually the lessee, though he declined to give his name; Singh will no longer be overseeing the Altamont location.
"Honestly, I think it was a little bit of people being prejudiced and a lot of the way Dave was with customers," said Dingman of why he thought Singh left and GRGH offered Dingman oversight of the store.
In an Aug. 31 editorial, "Respect Diversity," The Enterprise wrote about its coverage of the Ketchum’s sale, "What we haven’t run are the rumors and innuendo we’ve heard in recent weeks that have racist overtones."

Dingman had managed another GRGH store that Singh leased off of the Northway, in Clifton Park. He was moved to the Altamont store in July where he has been working since the sale.

The Fort Hunter native has been in the convenience store business for 10 years, he said, and he’s ready to have his own business now. With his first baby due in March, he’s looking to settle in the area and run the shop.
"I know it’s a good store," he said. "It just needs to be built back up again."

The store had been owned by Tom and Sally Ketchum for 33 years; it served as a village hang-out and general store.

Dingman estimated that business had dropped off about 30 percent after the sale this summer when Singh was in charge. Regulars who objected to Singh had stopped coming in.
"The community just didn’t want him," long-time employee Stacy Delligan told The Enterprise earlier.

She’ll be coming back to work at the store again in October along with the other old employees, said Dingman.

Business is slowly picking up again, said Dingman; the regulars have begun coming back now, he said.