Category Archives: Business News

BY JENNIFER FARNSWORTH

Not all businesses are having to scale back on their workforce as a result of COVID-19.

Grocery stores are facing the challenge of the sudden and dramatic demand for products. Convenience stores are facing similar challenges, including Stewart’s Shops.

Erica Komoroske, public relations specialist for Stewart’s Shops said “the traffic at our shops has increased for grocery items like milk, bread, eggs and other grocery items but because of our vertical integration, we are able to keep up with demand.”

Stewart’s is used to having an ongoing schedule of deliveries, including popular local products, like milk and eggs. Officials said eggs have been in especially high demand, but they are working with local farms to meet the needs of the community.

When we get ‘the other side’ of this shutdown, it will be critical to hit the ground running. Here is what you can do NOW.

Start with your business plan. A reboot will allow you to challenge whether your business is headed in the right direction. Consider whether you have the right product mix. Are you focused on the right markets? Which products or services provide you the best margin? Which have the most need in your market? You can adjust your strategy now, while you have time.

When given the all clear – quickly notify customers that you are back. Use social media. Use ads. Most importantly, call them! Make sure your sales teams are armed with your adjusted plan and reach out to as many customers as possible. It is critical that you re-establish relationships.

BY MEGHAN MURRAY

As an investor, you constantly want to see your portfolio move just one way – up. But that’s not possible, because the financial markets will always fluctuate.

So, if you’re going to invest for many decades, you need to be prepared for many ups and downs. Still, the recent market pullback from record highs, caused largely by the coronavirus, may have you particularly concerned. How can you navigate this environment?

Here are five suggestions:

• Avoid the temptation to panic. This pullback, while unsettling and unprecedented because of its speed, won’t last forever. And when it ends, you’ll still want to be invested in the financial markets, because the biggest gains usually occur in the earliest stages of a market rally. Of course, there are no guarantees in the investment world, but we’ve seen many examples of this pullback/rebound pattern throughout history.

Due to concerns regarding the ongoing COVID‐19 pandemic, the Lake George Park Commission is delaying implementation of its mandatory boat inspection program until June 1, as opposed to the traditional May 1 date.

Commission Chairman Bruce Young said the decision was made to protect the health and safety of the boating public and the commission’s boat inspection staff.

“The commission must balance the risk of new introductions of aquatic invasive species versus the health and safety of the public and our staff,” said Young. “An analysis of launch data from the past six years of the mandatory inspection program shows a lower risk for invasives introductions in the month of May compared with the summer months. Only 4 percent of annual decontaminations occur in May, and most boats are being launched for the first time of the season.”

SUNY Empire State College will open computer labs at five of its campuses and learning hubs across New York state to the public to help ensure an accurate, complete count in the 2020 census—the first-ever census to be conducted primarily online.
One of the labs is in Saratoga Springs.
Residents will receive instructions from the Census Bureau in the mail that explain how to officially respond to the census online, by phone or by mail. Empire campuses in Albany, Saratoga Springs, Rochester, Manhattan, and Long Island will be open to the community to complete the online questionnaire.

SUNY Empire State College and SUNY Adirondack Community College have approved a phase-one agreement for five joint-admissions degrees in business and management at SUNY Empire’s Saratoga Springs campus.
Under the agreement, SUNY Adirondack students will benefit from increased access to SUNY Empire’s campus in Saratoga Springs, where they can matriculate in bachelor’s and eventually graduate programs in a convenient location upon completing their degree at SUNY Adirondack.

By Andrea Harwood Palmer
PrimeLink Fiber Optic Internet and Phone Services is being acquiring by FirstLight, a fiber-optic data, internet, data center, cloud computing and unified communications services provider.
Vicki Marking, marketing manager for PrimeLink, said the sale would be complete later this year.
“We are really excited about it. It will be our local team and FirstLight’s extensive resources. FirstLight’s infrastructure goes all over New York state. It’s a great compliment to them. The local team will remain in place. The transition will be slow and over a long period of time,” she said.

By R.J. DeLuke
AngioDynamics, the medical device manufacturer with facilities in Glens Falls, has stood true to its promise to change—not to become bigger, but better, its CEO said in his remarks at EDC Warren County’s Economic Outlook breakfast in February at the Queensbury Hotel.
“We’re going to change because we have to,” said Jim Clemmer. “So that we have a future and not just a past.”
AngioDynamics has some 480 employees based in Warren County, including production sites, offices and a distribution center in Glens Falls and Queensbury. According to Clemmer, the company is undergoing a major transition because the delivery of health care services has changed.
He said the company needs to have the right products that the health care industry needs. To accomplish that, innovation has to proceed at a faster pace. AngioDynamics is investing millions of dollars into research and is also hiring talent that can bring about its goals, and retraining and training current staff.

Paul L. Dowen, CPA and managing partner of Whittemore, Dowen and Ricciardelli LLP in Queensbury, received the Adirondack Regional Chamber of Commerce’s 31st annual J. Walter Juckett Community Service Award at the organization’s annual dinner on March 6 at the Sagamore Resort in Bolton Landing.
More than 300 attended.
The organization’s award is named after J. Walter Juckett, whom ARCC notes had a remarkable business career and was recognized as a major community leader in his adopted home, the village of Hudson Falls, and the entire region. His leadership and commitment traversed a wide range of civic, charitable, religious, political, business and educational activities.