By Susan Elise Campbell

Moving into Suite 101B at The Shirt Factory, 71 Lawrence St., Glens Falls,  is enabling the owner of The Creative Chameleon, Cie McCullough, to expand her offerings of unique games and crafts for young people. 

“I love this building,” said McCullough, sole proprietor since 2018. “The owner does so much for us.”

Going from 500 to nearly 900 square feet gives McCullough more room to add retail products, some of which are from different parts of the world, she said.

The shop has a wide assortment of do-it-yourself offerings for the creative child, puzzles, yarn and paper crafts, paintable ceramics and magnets, wood and wicker crafts, plus playing cards, books, journals, and many more items and activities, she said.

“Our biggest sellers are UGears and Eugy craft kits,” she said. “To my knowledge no one else in the area stocks these kits. The ‘U’ in UGears stands for Ukraine, and the distributor is a Ukrainian man who was looking for toys for his own kids. UGears are in a category all their own.”

By Susan Elise Campbell

Northern Insuring Agency Inc. has expanded its presence in and commitment to Glens Falls and north country communities by moving offices to 21 Bay St.

The Adirondack Regional Chamber of Commerce held a ribbon cutting event at the new office on Tuesday, May 17.

Doubling the space from the former suite at 136 Glen St. will enable the agency to add staff, provide a comfortable conference space, and attract more people traveling in and out of the city, Deena Giltz McCullough, CEO, said from the company’s headquarters office in Plattsburgh. There is a another satellite in Potsdam.

In its 90-plus years, Northern Insuring has had many offices in smaller communities but moved strategically into select communities with higher populations and economic growth potential, McCullough said.

“We thought when we came into Glens Falls from Massena that the traffic circle would be a high visibility location,” she said.

The former Mount McGregor State Correctional Facility’s four-acre exercise yard in Moreau has been transferred to Grant Cottage State Historic Site,

The newly transferred land will accommodate new site amenities, including an outdoor pavilion for programs and events, accessible parking and historical interpretation of the original Hotel Balmoral, the first development on Mount McGregor.

The cottage, on the hotel grounds, was offered as a residence to President Ulysses S. Grant to complete his memoirs at the end of his life. Before his death in July 1885, Grant spent the last five weeks of his life at the cottage, writing his memoirs while battling cancer. The cottage, which has since been linked to the 18th president, became a historic site in 1890 and remains essentially the same as during his stay.

In April, to celebrate Grant’s 200th birthday and promote the opening of the 2022 season, State Parks and the Friends of Grant Cottage unveiled a National Historic Landmark plaque, which is inset into a boulder at the base of the flagpole in front of the cottage.

By Paul Post

America is a nation on the move, as nearly 20 people million are expected to relocate this summer. U-Haul’s purchase of former Kmart stores, including one at 308 Dix Ave. in Queensbury, helps ease such transitions by giving customers convenient services from rental vehicles to trailer hitches, storage containers and supplies designed to protect fragile items.

The repurposed former retail store in Queensbury gives new life to the property.

“I’ve seen several (former Kmart stores) that have sat too long,” said Levi Parmerter, U-Haul area district vice president. “You can’t use them and bad things start to happen. People start to break in and steal the copper and HVAC units. It becomes a nuisance you don’t want.”

“So this is a good use of the building for sure,” he said. “There are not a lot of retailers that can come in and fill a 150,000-square-foot building any more. Brick and mortar retail isn’t what it used to be.”

U-Haul bought the 25-acre Queensbury site for $7.1 million and purchased 12 other Kmarts across the U.S. in 2019 for $62 million.

By Christine Graf

Husband and wife Brandon and Keely Whalen of Wilton— whose family opened the Wind-Chill Factory in Ticonderoga in 1996—recently opened Wind-Chill Factory, a seasonal ice cream, food, and miniature golf business at 3 Trieble Ave. in Ballston Spa.  

The flagship location of Wind-Chill Factory was opened in Ticonderoga by Brandon’s father, Bobby Porter. Brandon grew up working at Wind-Chill Factory. He met his future wife while they were classmates in high school. Keely’s parents, John and Roberta Cooper, own Frenchy’s, a roadside food and ice cream business in Crown Point in Essex County. 

“They purchased it when I was two years old, so I literally was born and raised in the industry,” said Keely Whalen of Frenchy’s. “Brandon was also raised in the exact same kind of business. He worked there all through high school and up until he joined the Navy.”

The couple married in 2015 and lived for several years in Connecticut while Brandon was stationed there They relocated to the Capital Region in 2019 after he was reassigned to the Nuclear Power Training Unit in Ballston Spa where he serves as an instructor.

StoredTech has acquired the assets of NOAH IT LLC in North Carolina for an undisclosed sum. 

Mark Shaw, CEO at StoredTech, said the move was made to increase its growing Raleigh, N.C., presence. NOAH IT’s employees joined StoredTech. 

The acquisition is effective immediately. All of the NOAH IT staff are working out of StoredTech’s Raleigh office. 

This acquisition brings more clients to StoredTech’s Managed Service Provider (MSP) platform and, it brings more services to NOAH IT’s base of clients. 

“We are always looking for ways to expand out footprint. Allan and the NOAH IT team certainly does that. We are also excited to offer more comprehensive services to our new clients.” Shaw said.

Allan Polak, founder of NOAH IT, said “this combination brings more depth of support and services to our clients. StoredTech has grown immensely here in Raleigh, and we are excited to be a part of it … “I was extremely impressed with the StoredTech team’s total focus on customer delight.”