Category Archives: Business News

By Jill Nagy

This winter, on cold, dark evenings, Mark and Kristen Shaw hope people will find their way to Go Play with Your Food, a tavern that will featured old fashioned board games.

They plan to open in January. 

The couple has collected over 500 board games, ranging from classics like Monopoly and chess to the  more esoteric ones. Meanwhile, they are renovating a building at 126 Glen St. to house the enterprise.

The tavern will offer a selection of sandwiches, flatbread pizza, salads and “family fun food,” Mark Shaw said.  There will also be beer, mead, and wines—no hard liquor. 

He said the emphasis will be on the games, not the food. They are not trying to compete with Glens Falls restaurants. The choices of food and drink also reflects the desire to create a family-oriented facility.

Discovery Map International, a provider of curated guides to top tourist attractions, cities and towns throughout North America, recently announced John Farrell as the new owner of Discovery Map of Lake George.  Farrell, the owner of JMF Publishing, purchased the map from Greg Cluver in the fall. Farrell has owned and operated JMF Publishing...

By Jill nagy

Bone broth is the specialty of the house at the Dix Avenue Diner in Queensbury. 

The diner, at 487 Dix Ave., shares space with the New Beginnings Community Church. The church’s pastor, Randy Gross, also operates the diner and brews the bone broth.

Gross boils meat bones—chicken, turkey, beef, or pork—with a mixture of spices until it reaches a jelly-like consistency. The result, he said, is a product low in calories, high in protein, and packed with vitamins and minerals. 

He described the spices as anti-inflammatory and said that they gain added potency from cooking in the hot fat. They include turmeric, cardamon, ginger, garlic and cumin. 

The Indian influence is not coincidental. Gross said part of his inspiration came from the experience of a doctor whose digestive tract changed when he lived in India for a time and the changes resulted in improved health.

Customers can eat the hot broth in the diner or take it home by the bottle. 

By Andrew Meader & Lake George Wine Outlet

Seasonal drinks around the Holidays are steeped in tradition. We all stock up on eggnog and mulled wine and it is the time to break out the peppermint martini. This year, we want you to try something new. 

Here are five cocktails that you may not have heard of that will make you a hit at any holiday party. Post pictures of these cocktails and you will become Instagram famous with friends.

White Christmas Margarita

Who says you can only have margaritas in the summer? This twist on tequila’s favorite partner in a glass will be sure to get you into the holiday spirit. The coconut flavors will have you dreaming of what the holidays are like on a tropical island or in Mexico. 

Recipe:

1½ ounce silver tequila

½ ounce triple sec

½ ounce coconut rum

½ ounce lime juice

1 ounce light coconut milk

Garnish with cranberries and fresh sprigs of rosemary.

By Susan Elise Campbell

What started as a plan to add more production and canning space has snowballed into an additional restaurant and event space that doubles the size of Common Roots Brewing Co. at 58 Saratoga Ave. in South Glens Falls.

Guests are already booking weddings and corporate events for up to 250 people, according to Christian Weber, who owns the brewery with his father, Bert Weber.

“The site has been cleared and the steel for footings has arrived,” said Weber. “We hope to have the new building up and closed in by the end of the year and opened to customers the end of spring.”

The new building and beer garden is being designed and built by Phinney Design Group of Saratoga Springs with V&H Construction Inc. as lead contractor. These are the same firms that rebuilt the modern Adirondack-style structure in 2020.

By Christine Graf 

Queensbury-based Praxis Technology— a manufacturer that produces titanium components for the medical, aerospace, consumer and sporting goods markets—has announced plans to consolidate its operations in a 53,500-square-foot manufacturing complex on Pruyn’s Island in Glens Falls. 

The company purchased the facility from Andritz Inc. It sits on 6.2 acres. The investment was made after the city rezoned the site from single-family residential to heavy industrial use. The property at 1 Namic Place is located at the southern end of Pruyn’s Island, an area that is home to other industrial uses including Flomatic Corp., Umicore Electrical Materials and building materials supplier ABC Supply Co.

“We purchased the building and are relocating both of our facilities that are currently in the industrial park by the airport,” said Joseph Grohowski, founder and president of Praxis Technology. 

“We’re doing it for a number of reasons,” he said. “One is that we want to have all of our operations under one roof. Two is that we need room to grow. We are pretty much out of room in our current two facilities. It’s a great opportunity for us to lay the foundation for future growth as well as to create a really nice environment for our employees. It’s very important to us that Praxis is a great place to work.”

By Paul Post

COVID-19 shone a spotlight on the need for a safe, secure food system and strong local agriculture, which has a $500 million economic impact on Saratoga County alone, led by its diverse equine industry.

Numerous farm businesses, from large dairies to maple production, award-winning goat’s milk cheese and Christmas trees, are prevalent throughout Warren and Washington counties as well.

“I’m really excited about what we learned during COVID-19,” state Agriculture Commissioner Richard Ball said. “We had supply problems, getting food in grocery stores. We’ve got to leverage that right now and make sure people remember that we need food here, and need it grown here.” 

Ball is president of the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture, which recently brought hundreds of people from throughout the U.S. to Saratoga Springs for a four-day, annual conference. Participants attended panel discussions on critical farm issues such as labor shortage, toured local ag enterprises and worked on policy proposals. 

“I’m excited about connecting with a population that maybe didn’t know as much about New York state agriculture as it really should. It’s upstate New York’s biggest economic engine and it’s so large we don’t know totally how large it is,” he said.

A 2019 Cornell University study said the agriculture, farm and food system had a direct $43.6 billion in total industry output, encompassing over 163,000 jobs.

By Paul Post

Local officials welcomed Ice Castles with open arms last year, hoping it would help fulfill the long sought-after goal of making Lake George a year-round tourist destination

It did that and more, by generating enough occupancy tax to bring four brand new attractions to Charles R. Wood Park’s Festival Commons in 2023, exponentially increasing Ice Castles’ economic impact by drawing even more people to the village, according to local officials.

“When Ice Castles was open, the streets had as many people on them as we’d see normally and all the accommodations I’m aware of that were open were full on weekends,” Mayor Robert Blais said. “So many people stayed at Fort William Henry Hotel, Holiday Inn, Quality Inn and the Marriott Courtyard that our occupancy tax collection for that period was up 40 percent. That will go toward increasing the number of special events the village can support and expanding the special events we have here presently.”

Warren County Tourism expected last year’s inaugural Ice Castles to give the local economy a $4 million boost. That figure should be much larger in 2023, both directly and indirectly, thanks to more attractions throughout the year, officials said.

By Andrea Harwood

Tyler Russell and wife Julia Sanzen are planning to open a second Rocket Recycling location in Queensbury in about seven months, with a third location also in the process.

Russell opened the first location mid-March at 255 Ridge St. in Glens Falls, in the former Stewart’s location across the street from the newer, larger Stewart’s. Russell described the property as nearly turn-key upon purchase.

“It was game plan from the start to have three locations opened in the area,” said Russell. “From there, we will continue our growth forward.”

“There’s a need and an opportunity locally,” he said.

The second location is at the circle roundabout near Evergreen Plaza (known locally as the Sokol’s Plaza), off Aviation Road. The facility is a former gas and service station from many years ago and has been empty for years. Tyler said the property was just waiting for the right idea and the right business. Rocket Recycling fits that bill.

The building has a three-bedroom apartment above the garage, but Russell said there are no plans for that space just yet.