Stewart’s Shops recently opened a third in Moreau in a new building at 1311 Route 9, just off of Northway Exit 17N.
The new Moreau location is one of 10 brand new stores. Others were completely renovated and rebuilt
“I’m really excited. It’s a great opportunity for us,” store manager Matt Gould said. “We’ll have a great mix of local and commuter traffic.”
The company said the store is one more link in a very community-oriented chain that Stewart’s Shops has been steadily building for the past 75 years.

The former Merrill Magee Restaurant and Inn at 3 Hudson St. in Warrensburg will be re-opened under a new name by a local entrepreneur.
Ash Anand of the Lotus Group of Companies has acquired the property and will oversee the reopening through his group’s Hospitality Division.
That group ran the Grist Mill, which was recently damaged by fire. Plans are to use that staff to work on the new venture the Grist Mill , 100 River St., Warrensburg, is renovated and rebuilt as needed. The fire happened in November.
The Bond, 1786 will be dedicated to serving creative, original and affordable cuisine along with hand crafted cocktails, local brew selections and homemade desserts, Anand said in a news release.
The entire property will be called The Bond and the restaurant will specifically be known as 1786, Anand said.
The Merrill Magee House boasts several smaller private dining spaces, a rustic but elegant bistro area and a main dining room with cathedral ceilings, intimate beam work and several fireplaces. Anand said he has plans to cultivate the entire property into a destination vacation spot.
The house is listed on the National Registry of Historic Places.

Marshall & Sterling Insurance, a Poughkeepsie-based firm with a large Albany presence, has acquired Adirondack Regional Insurance Agency in Queensbury. The acquisition closed on Jan. 1.“We are very excited to join the Marshall &Sterling family,” said Jeffrey D. Howard, president of Adirondack Regional Insurance Agency. “Being part of a much larger organization, we will now have in-creased capabilities such as additional insurance carriers represented, the ability to handle exposures in other states, in-house loss control services, employee benefits, and wealth management, just to name a few.” Adirondack was founded by Howard in 1997and has two offices located in Queensbury and Warrensburg, providing personal and commercial insurance coverage and services. With the acquisition of Adirondack, Marshall &Sterling’s operations will include 36 offices across five U.S. states and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Marshall& Sterling is already one of the largest in Albany with $848.22 million in total local insurance volume in 2019.The transaction is the latest in a number of recent independent insurance company acquisitions.

ARP and Public Private Strategies launched thefree Small Business Resource Center for the 50+ toprovide resources to aspiring entrepreneurs andestablished business owners. Older entrepreneurscan find support, resources and practical guidanceas they start, manage and grow their business.“Small businesses are vital to our nation’seconomy and many are started by Americans age 50and up,” said Susan Weinstock, AARP vice presidentof financial resiliency programming. “The impactof the pandemic on small businesses cannot beoverstated and it is crucial that business owners andaspiring entrepreneurs have practical guidance andinformation in this moment.”A significant majority of small business areowned by entrepreneurs who started their busi-nesses later in life. More than half (54 percent) ofAmerica’s small business owners are over 50 and in2019 they employed almost half (47.3 percent) ofthe U.S. private workforce.“Always, but particularly as we build back fromCOVID-19, small business owners and entrepre-neurs are constantly adapting and evolving basedon their market and customer needs,” said RhettButtle, founder and principal of Public PrivateStrategies.

FORT EDWARD —New York state has plans to construct two 20-megawatt solar energy projects in Fort Edward, part of an effort to reduce reliance on fossil fuels.
“As the world economy resets, and as change is a necessity, there is an opportunity to raise our efforts to the next level, and New York should seize this moment,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo said. “We can establish ourselves as the nation’s leader for renewable energy innovation and production. And we will secure the jobs of the future right here at home for New Yorkers.”
The plan includes four components, including identifying large-scale projects that would generate sufficient energy; creating manufacturing facilities needed to construct green infrastructure; increasing the state’s transmission supply so energy created elsewhere can flow to other parts of the state; and expanding education and job training in order to meet the workforce needs associated with green energy.