By Christine Graf
As more retail stores are forced to close due to the rise of online shopping, malls are being forced to reinvent themselves in order to survive. They are adding attractions and businesses that traditionally wouldn’t be located in malls.
Pyramid Management Group’s Aviation Mall in Queensbury is evolving to meet the changing landscape of the retail marketplace. In June, they were granted a zoning change that allows the company to build an apartment complex connected to the mall by two short paths. The project has been temporarily halted due to COVID-19.
Aviation Mall general manager James Griffith said COVID-19 has also impacted other negotiations that were in the works. Retailers are hesitant to make any decisions until the pandemic has ended.
“We were working on quite a few things, then COVID happened. COVID definitely slowed down some of the momentum we had with some of these national tenants. We’re in a holding pattern,” said Griffith.
He noted the mall isn’t just going after retail tenants anymore. The mall is open to uses that typically wouldn’t be in a traditional shopping center.
“One use that has been great this year that is an entertainment use is Adirondack Zombie Hunters,” he said. They were in downtown Lake George and came here about a year ago. They are just knocking it out of the park.”
Adirondack Zombie Hunters occupies a 3,000-square-foot space. In addition to selling survival and military surplus merchandise, the store features two laser-based shooting range simulators.

The Lake George Regional Chamber of Commerce has produced a new publication, available in print and digital form, to assist people looking to move to or open a business in the region.
The 2020-21 Community and Business Directory, is available in print by request and digitally on lakegeorgechamber.com.
It includes information about key industries, business resources, county facts, towns and villages, the Adirondacks Welcome Center, education, services and utilities, hiking, biking, public parks and environmental organizations, agriculture. It also includes a Chamber membership directory.
This marks the first year the Chamber has produced this type of guide. It has been producing a Four-Seasons Travel Guide aimed at tourists for decades. That guide is printed annually in January and has a 70,000 print circulation plus thousands of digital views. It is distributed strategically at key points to help reach the traveling public throughout the Northeast.

By Andrea Harwood Palmer
Fresh ADK in Downtown Glens Falls has rebranded and reopened as two new ventures. Flight Market & Deli and Flight Wine Bar & Restaurant at 11 South St., Glens Falls.
Melissa Brennan co-owns both venues with business partner John Homkey. Homkey is a residential mortgage originator at Homestead Funding.
Flight Market & Deli held its grand opening and ribbon cutting on Dec. 4. Flight Wine Bar & Restaurant is expected to open in 2021.
Larissa Ovitt, Brennan’s daughter, is the marketing and brand curator for the company.
“My younger brother is an animation and motion graphics designer in Manhattan. He came home during all of this, so we have a really sweet logo designed. The three of us have joined forces and brought on a really great team,” said Ovitt.

by Andrea Harwood Palmer
Dagget Lake Campsites and Cottages in the town of Thurman has been sold.
Mitch Muroff of Muroff Hospitality Group said owners Tom Near and Pamela Finnegan sold the property at 660 Glen Athol Road in Thurman for $2.8 million.
“They owned it for 25 years. Tom wanted to spend more time in Florida, and he ran the campsite day-to-day. It was time,” said Muroff.
Terry Crikelair of Adirondack Preserve LLC purchased the property. The sale closed on Nov. 18. Muroff represented the buyer and secured the seller.
Muroff said the owners wanted to sell the property to the Adirondack Preserve so it would continue as a campground. “There were other offers (from) people who wanted to close the campground and keep the property as a private residential estate or family compound,” he said.
“It’s a very safe, friendly, well-run property with very little turnover. Many of the people who stay there have been doing so for 20 or 25 years. It has that family environment feel to it. Tom was especially concerned with wanting that to continue. Those people were like family to him,” said Muroff.
The roughly 75 campsites will open in the spring when camping season begins.

Andrea Harwood Palmer
Brian Rollo, a leadership coach and cultural business strategist, has published a new book, “The 10 Habits of Influential Leaders”.
“I wrote this as an actionable handbook for someone who is a people-manager struggling to get results,” said Rollo, who operates his consulting company out of Queensbury. “I highlight the top 10 things that help people-managers get better. Things people can do to get results from their team, and to make leading a team a little less miserable.”
“I tell the story of how I first became a manager, and really struggled in the beginning,” he said. “And I did a lot of research, reading over 50 white papers. I tried to be the channel to distill everything I learned throughout my career, and through extensive research.”
Rollo said the predominant struggle is that some people struggle to step into an authority role. “They may have the title, but they’re afraid to do anything because they don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings,.”
Others grasp authority too hard. “They need everyone to know they’re the boss,” he said.
“Both approaches are a road to trouble,” said Rollo. “I address this in the book. It usually plays out in how people deal with conflict.”
“It’s easy to be the boss when everyone just says, ‘I agree, I’ll do whatever you say’. But most of the time it is not like that. In real life, there is frequently conflict. When you’re a team member, you can try to stay in your own world. When you’re a leader, you cannot just ignore it when your team is in conflict. You must be the one to step up and deal with it. If you’re uncomfortable with that, the conflict grows,” said Rollo.

By Susan Elise Campbell
Lora Bacharach and Brianna Rabine started North Country Paws for Obedience only three years ago and are already expanding into a second location.
The partners purchased a 31.8-acre parcel on Route 4 in Hudson Falls. At the new site, they will be able to train more pets in a wider variety of skills while giving them better opportunities for socialization and healthy play, Bacharach said.
What started as a small obedience school moved seven months later across the street to a space four times larger at 1638 Route 9 in South Glens Falls.
Since then, “we were looking for a space to buy before the pandemic hit because we wanted to get farther away from the road,” Bacharach said. “The current location limits the size of our classes as well as the services we can offer, such as off-leash training. Our long-term goal is always to accommodate our clients and the needs of the dogs.”
Bacharach said puppy preschool and training will continue at the Route 9 location for the foreseeable future. But the new space will be a “K-9 enrichment center promoting healthy adventures and relationships” between people and their pets, she said.
There will be more room for boarding, training and rehabilitation. There is a pond nearby for introducing dogs to the water and plenty of space for agility training. There are also miles of hiking trails.