Category Archives: Business News

By Rod Bacon

One of the most effective ways to learn something is to immerse yourself as completely as possible in the subject.

Battlefield Leadership, under the guidance of President and CEO Col. (Ret.) Kevin W. Farrell, Ph.D., provides total immersion leadership programs based in history throughout the United States and several sites overseas. Clients attend multiple-day seminars at locations where some of the most significant military decisions were made, influencing the destinies of the people at the locations in which they occurred. Based on the traits of Character, Courage, and Competence, facilitators use the lessons of history to prepare attendees for leadership positions in their companies.

One example is the Saratoga Leadership Experience, in which participants visit the historic battlefield and study the event considered the turning point of the American Revolution. Case studies of Maj. Gen. Horatio Gates, Maj. Gen. Philip Schuyler, and Sir William Howe are used to illustrate key leadership lessons that show attendees how to seize the initiative, align a complex organization, overcome adversity, and defeat complacency.

As with all the organization’s offerings, this two-day program is facilitated by a leader with extensive knowledge of the subject. Chief Operating Officer Adrienne M. Harrison, Ph.D., holds a doctorate in Early American History and has written extensively on subjects related to the American Revolution. She is a graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point who has spent 20 years as a military leader and private sector executive.

By LEE COLEMAN

Duct Kings, a new business specializing in professional air duct cleaning, dryer vent cleaning and mold removal, has opened at 5 Knabner Road in Mechanicville.

James Kennedy, owner of KPM Restoration, and Dan Kirchner started the business eight months ago and serve  Saratoga County, Albany County, Schenectady, Troy, and southern Warren County.

“Being in the restoration world, we have seen many fires that have started due to clogged dryer vents. This is an easily preventable issue,” said Kirchner, who did work for Kennedy’s fire and water restoration business.

“Along the same lines we have done many restoration projects on properties with mold, water and fire damage. The air ducts in these properties are affected and need to be cleaned for healthy air quality,” he said.

“We are fully licensed, certified and insured. We serve residential homes, businesses and institutions with the same dedication to quality and attention to detail,” Kirchner and Kennedy said in a joint statement.

“Our commitment is simple: to provide exceptional service that ensures the air quality and safety of your property,” they said.

Kirchner said it took Duct Kings a couple of months to develop a good system that is now in place. The company employs a three-person field tech crew and one office person. “We are looking to add another service van and another field tech team,” he said.

By Paul Post

 Rock Hill Bakehouse sells more than 14,000 loaves of bread per week, from Westchester to Lake Placid and is aiming for a 30 percent increase in production.

“That’s one of the main reasons we moved here, to get wholesale manufacturing back to a breakpoint in production,” owner Matt Funiciello said.

Wholesale accounts for about 80 percent of the firm’s business to health food stores, co-ops, supermarkets and restaurants, including ski areas and resort towns in western Massachusetts and Vermont as well.

The other 20 percent is retail, from its cozy cafe at 18 Curran Lane adjacent to The Shirt Factory in the east end of Glens Falls. Funiciello moved there five years ago, from a Route 9 strip plaza just north of Exit 17 in Moreau.

Now everything is under one roof. Previously, Rock Hill also had a café on Exchange Street in Glens Falls, in addition to the Moreau bakehouse.

The Lake George Land Conservancy (LGLC) announces its 2025 Land Campaign, a $9 million fundraising campaign to permanently protect more than 1,200 acres of land that protects Lake George.

The Campaign includes the protection of 517 acres of Pilot Knob Mountain and more than 700 acres in Bolton. Together, these forested lands have 2.8 miles of streams and more than 26 acres of wetlands that are critical to maintaining Lake George’s exceptional water quality.

The LGLC is under contract to purchase 517 acres of Pilot Knob Mountain, including its 2,159-foot summit, and 1.6 miles of streams. The land is close to the LGLC’s Schumann Preserve at Pilot Knob, and sits just south of Buck Mountain, sharing more than 1.6 miles of its border with New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) Wild Forest. Because of its proximity to NYSDEC’s protected lands, this part of Pilot Knob is often mistakenly believed to be already protected; in fact, it is one of the largest privately-owned properties in the south basin and is zoned for development of up to 60 buildings.

LGLC Executive Director Mike Horn said, “We are grateful to the landowners of Pilot Knob Mountain for being good stewards of this land for many decades, and for working with the LGLC to keep it protected, forever.”

By LEE COLEMAN

The Romeo Auto Group has moved into the Saratoga Springs market with the purchase of Saratoga Subaru and Saratoga Ford, both located just off Northway Exit 15.

“We are super excited to add Subaru to our dealerships,” said Mike Romeo, who will be dealer principal of the two dealerships purchased from the Mackey Auto Group on March 24.

The transaction comes just three months after Romeo Auto Group bought Whiteman Chevrolet on Dix Avenue in Glens Falls, now called Romeo Chevrolet.

The Romeo Auto Group has dealerships in Glens Falls, South Glens Falls and Queensbury as well as five dealerships in Kingston operated by Mike’s older brother Joe Romeo.

Mike Romeo said the group currently has a Ford dealership in Kingston but did not have a Subaru dealership. The auto group owns Romeo Toyota on Broad Street in Glens Falls, Carriage Traders on Saratoga Road in South Glens Falls, and the Romeo Auto Outlet on Quaker Road in Queensbury.

“We want to build it back up to what it used to be,” Mike Romeo said about the Saratoga Springs car market.

By Paul Post

Aviation Mall is gearing up for a second half-century of business with a go-kart racing attraction for local families, summer vacationers and serious competitors alike.

Scheduled to open Nov. 1, ADK Karting Experience is the newest in a series of sports, fitness and entertainment-type tenants, as the 50-year-old mall reinvents itself in the face of 21st-century consumer demands.

“When you have a very large facility to maintain with costly utilities, insurance and the like, you have to take on opportunities that might not be traditional,” said James Griffith, mall general manager. “We’ve always looked at different uses for getting people in the shopping center because that’s how we’re measured by our tenants. They want to know, ‘What is your foot traffic?’”

“We welcome anything, whenever we can justify that it brings more traffic,” he said.

ADK Karting will occupy the 80,000-square-foot former Sears space at the east end of the mall, near the Food Court.

Aviation Mall was a major, region-wide retail shopping destination when it opened in October 1975 with JC Penney, still there, and Denby’s as anchors. Caldor and Sears joined not long afterward, but later closed in addition to The Bon-Ton, which replaced Caldor.

Target, Dick’s Sporting Goods and Ollie’s Bargain Outlet are anchors now along with JC Penney, but filling smaller spaces with retail tenants has been a challenge for malls across America, including this one.

“You can’t run away from it, online buying is how people make their purchases now,” Griffith said.

Registration has opened for Warren County’s first household hazardous waste collection event of 2025, scheduled on Saturday, May 3. 

Warren County residents who would like to get rid of hazardous materials such as cleaners, paint, pesticides and other household chemicals can do so at no charge on May 3 at Queensbury Highway Department, 742 Bay Road, Queensbury, from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m.

Residents who sign up will be able to safely dispose of materials such as antifreeze, pesticides, gasoline, paints, household cleaners and fluorescent light bulbs at no cost at this household hazardous waste collection, which is being overseen by Warren County Department of Public Works.

The Warren County event staff will not be able to accept munitions, automotive oil, batteries, asbestos, pharmaceuticals, infectious waste or tires.

Registration is required, and closes April 30. These events typically fill quickly.