By Rod Bacon

An often quoted proverb states “When one door closes, another door opens.”

This was the case for Eric Mattison, an entrepreneur who recently established two businesses in Whitehall.

For 10 years Mattison owned Square Nail Rustics in Glens Falls, a business that made wide plank flooring and farmhouse furniture. His 30-employee firm was located in the Chase Bag Building and he a showroom in Union Square and a second manufacturing facility on Dix Avenue. 

He decided to move his base of operations to a home he purchased in Hartford that had a carriage house on the property. The previous owner had made wide plank flooring from old gym bleachers, and Mattison figured the transition to the new location would go smoothly. 

“It was a pre-existing use so I thought it would be pretty easy for me to use that carriage house that he was using to make my wide plank flooring,” he said. 

That was not the case. He had planned to enlarge the carriage house to suit his needs when the COVID pandemic hit. According to him, the price of construction materials went up considerably and the demand for custom flooring and farmhouse furniture declined.

“It simply wasn’t financially feasible to continue with this business anymore,” he said.

So he sold the Hartford property and started looking for another business opportunity. 

By Paul Post

Stewart’s Shops is spending $70 million this year to build new stores and rebrand some of the 45 Jolley convenience stores it recently acquired.

With the acquisition, completed on Dec. 16, the Malta-based company’s footprint now covers a territory from Oswego to Lebanon, N.H., and the Hudson Valley to the Canadian border including its first-ever entry into northern Vermont.

“We’re going to rebrand the stores within the geographic area we currently service first, from Central New York to southern Vermont,” Chief Operating Officer Chad Kiesow said. “Once that’s done, we’ll go north from Rutland into Burlington, St. Albans and northern Vermont.”

There are 48 Jolley stores in Vermont, two in New Hampshire and five in New York including three in Queensbury, one at 777 Upper Glen Street, another on Aviation Road near Northway Exit 19 and a third on Route 9 near Exit 20 across from Lake George Outlets. Albany Business Review has reported that Stewart’s paid $9.6 million for the five New York stores alone.

By Rod Bacon

Construction is underway on a major expansion and renovation of the Sheridan Emergency Department at Glens Falls Hospital. 

This is the first significant upgrade to the department in nearly 30 years, which was helped at the time with a generous gift from David S. and Janet R. Sheridan. 

“My parents chose the emergency department because it’s one of the places that serves the greatest number of people in the hospital’s coverage area,” said Davene Sheridan Brown, one of four Sheridan children.

Part of the funding for the expansion is being underwritten by community support, and the Sheridan Foundation, which was created in 2000, has stepped up with a lead gift of $3 million. Since 1986 the Sheridan family has contributed $5.5 million to the hospital. 

A campaign to raise $15 million of the $25 million goal was kicked off in September at “An Evening to Savor” gala on the hospital grounds with a view of the emergency department.

By Paul Post

Arrow Bank’s newly rebranded name is taking aim at greater Capital Region market share.

The moniker replaces Glens Falls National Bank & Trust Company and its affiliate, Saratoga National Bank & Trust Company, which have operated together since the latter’s company’s formation in 1988.

The newly-named Arrow Bank is a subsidiary of Glens Falls-based Arrow Financial Corporation.

“We’ve been successful with the two brands, but in some instances the name has held us back a little bit,” said David S. DeMarco, corporation president and CEO. “If you go into a new market and you’re a strong company that’s got the name Arrow Bank it should be well perceived versus, ‘Wait a minute, I thought your bank was in Saratoga or Glens Falls.’ ”

“We have a very small market share in the Capital Region,” he said. “That’s really where our growth will be. That’s our target.”

A crowd of company officials and well-wishers recently gathered outside Glens Falls offices to celebrate the new designation, which took effect January 1.