The 37th annual Stewart’s Holiday Match Campaign kicked off on Thanksgiving Day and runs through Christmas Day at all shop locations. The program supports nonprofit organizations benefiting children. To date, the program has raised over $36 million for children’s charities.

Last year, customers donated over $1 million to the program, doubling to more than $2 million with the Stewart’s match. The funds were able to support 1,939 local children’s organizations across the 32 counties where Stewart’s Shops are located.

“Sharing is a central focus of everything we do at Stewart’s. Holiday Match takes those efforts to another level by supporting children in the communities that we serve,” said Stewart’s Shops Director of Corporate Philanthropy Jennifer Frame.

Local organizations benefiting children are encouraged to apply for funding online beginning Thanksgiving Day. The deadline for submission is January 31, 2024. All groups applying must be locally based, benefit children, and be a qualified charitable 501c3 organization. 

By Ann Donnelly

New York’s State University Board of Trustees has appointed Dr. Kelli Borgos-Hatin as SUNY Distinguished Professor. Dr. Borgos-Hatin has been a Business Professor at SUNY Adirondack for over 23 years, starting when the college was known as Adirondack Community College, and has taught and mentored hundreds of students during that time. While building the next generation of business leaders is a great passion, she is also an entrepreneur highly regarded entrepreneur. Throughout her career, Borgos-Hatin had also worked in event catering and saw frequent issues with staffing the bar, so in 2011, she founded Mixaritas, mobile bartending services, with Jenn Berry-Youngs, who had been a student in Borgos-Hatin’s Hospitality Management Classes. Since then, the business has seen great success, leading to another business opportunity for Borgos-Hatin. Many event guests asked to purchase the flavored simple syrups she uses in her cocktails. 

In 2019, Borgos-Hatin launched Mixa-Fusion, making syrups with pure cane sugar and natural ingredients with no added preservatives, powders, or extracts. In addition to the syrups, Mixa-Fusion makes and sells hot cocoa bombs in various flavors and scented hand sanitizer that they started producing when there was a significant demand early on during the pandemic.

Early in her career, Borgos-Hatin worked with two strong businesswomen from the region who she cites as role models: Maureen Monahan Chase of Monahan Chase Caterers and Catherine Fisher, who owned a Carvel Ice Cream franchise. Her parents were also significant influences: her mother, JoAnn Borgos, showed her how to manage a busy yet happy household successfully, and her father, Stephen Borgos, who was Professor of Business Emeritus at Adirondack Community College (SUNY Adirondack), working there from 1966-2001.

As a child, Borgos-Hatin would accompany her father to the school, sit in on classes, and help him in the office, so it was no surprise when she decided to attend and received her first degree there, an Associate of Science in Business, in 1992. She then went to Sienna College, earning a Bachelor of Science in Marketing and Management in 1994.

By Ann Donnely

Ryan Holderman, owner of The Gym in Aviation Mall in Queensbury, was always an athlete in high school and college. After college, in 2009, he moved to New York City, where he completed a program for personal trainers and worked as a trainer and manager in some large “corporate” gyms.

In 2014, Holderman decided to return to the Glens Falls area. “I came home and realized I wanted to open a gym,” he said. 

His first gym, in the Midtown Shopping Center in South Glens Falls, was 3,000 square feet. After three years, he expanded to the Queensbury Plaza in a space measuring 6,000 square feet and ran the business there, as much as was allowed, through the pandemic.

In July 2023, The Gym relocated to its current site in Aviation Mall in space that was formerly TJ Maxx. “It’s a larger space. The mall, for me, was a big space to take on. Four times the biggest space I had before, so now we have so many other fitness sectors,” Holderman said. 

In addition to the areas with equipment for training, there are areas for yoga, batting cages, indoor cycling, physical therapy, massage therapy, and more. 

There are five to seven coaches, including two to three cycling instructors, a physical therapist, and a yoga instructor.  People cannot just come in as an individual and work out on their own. The Gym provides private training, semi-private training, group training, and kids’ camps for 8-12 year olds. 

“We are a balls, bands, and bungees kind of place. I don’t believe in machines. Our big thing is biomechanics, studying your body and how it moves. If your body moves the same way, it won’t be like mine or somebody else’s,” Holderman noted.

Ninety-six percent of the members are women between 25 and 75 years old. They also work with people with special conditions, such as COPD, undergoing chemotherapy, and pre- and post-natal.

 “We hold a meet-and-greet with each prospective member to sit down and talk about injuries, nutrition, goals, what their workout history is like, and get to know them. From there, we do a movement assessment and teach them basic movement patterns like squats, lunges, sit-ups, etc., to see their fitness level,” Holderman explained. Clients then receive a free 30-minute workout.

By Martin Patrick, SPHR, SHRM-SCP

As we approach the start of the new year, key updates to the way you manage your business payroll are on the horizon. Here’s a closer look at four of these changes and how they will affect both employers and employees.

1. Salary Threshold for Certain Wage Protections:

On March 13, 2024, the salary threshold for certain wage protections will increase from $900 to $1,300 per week. 

Right now, employers are exempt from some requirements when employing workers in executive, administrative, or professional capacities and whose earnings exceed $900 per week.

These include paying clerical or other workers “not less frequently than semi-monthly;” obtaining the advance, written consent of employees before paying wages via direct deposit; and being guilty of a misdemeanor for failing to provide benefits or wage supplements within 30 days after they are due.

The exemption from these requirements will now apply to employees with earnings that exceed $1,3000 per week.

Employers should review their current payroll practices and make any adjustments to help ensure compliance. For example, an employer could increase employee compensation to meet the new threshold or ensure that employees below the threshold are no longer exempt from these employer obligations.

2. Paid Family Leave Contributions:

This season marks the 90th anniversary of the Snow Train that brought skiers to North Creek, kickstarting generations of winter tourism in the area. Business owners, historians, and ski enthusiasts are commemorating this historic event.

The North Creek Snow Train’s inaugural voyage in 1934 transported 378 skiers from Schenectady to North Creek, kick starting the region’s winter sports tourisim attractions. This year, in collaboration with the Town of Johnsburg, Gore Mountain, The Tannery Pond Community Center, The North Creek Depot Museum, The Johnsburg Historical Society, Revolution Rail Co., Cunningham’s Ski Barn, ski enthusiasts, esteemed historians, artists, devoted residents, and local business owners, the area unites to honor the rich legacy of this remarkable train.

Throughout the 2023-2024 snow season an array of curated events will illuminate the vibrant history and cultural significance of the North Creek Snow Train. These events include walking history tours of the train station and North Creek Ski Bowl, screenings of vintage films, presentations, concerts, artwork exhibitions, fun races, and commemorative giveaways, among other activities. Barkeater Chocolates is making a Snow Train chocolate bar and Upper Hudson Coffee is branding the Roosevelt Roast with the Snow Train logo. The full schedule of events is currently in development, with additional information forthcoming.

By Paul Post

Spa City merchants say track season is like having a second Christmas time because of all the extra business it generates.

 Now they’re gearing up for yet another huge windfall with the announcement that Saratoga Race Course will host the June 6-9 Belmont Stakes Festival, which is expected to have a direct $37 million economic impact and generate untold future tourism by creating worldwide media exposure for one of thoroughbred racing’s most historic events.

 The third leg of racing’s Triple Crown is moving upstate because of ongoing construction and renovations at Belmont Park in Queens. “That it gives us the opportunity to really showcase our area to people who have never been here before,” said Deanna Devitt, president of the 200-member Saratoga Springs Downtown Business Association. 

 And excitement surrounding the Belmont Festival is expected to generate momentum and boost attendance for the regular, 40-day racecourse season that begins on Thursday, July 11.

 “Just very, very excited for this opportunity. We can’t wait,” said Marianne Barker of Impressions of Saratoga, a popular Broadway gift and souvenir shop.

 Local business leaders have already begun meeting to make sure Saratoga gets the biggest bang for its buck from this unprecedented opportunity, which Saratoga Chamber of Commerce President Todd Shimkus has likened to the Super Bowl.

By Paul Post

The name is the same, but Mr. Bill’s Carhop has a new year-round takeout and delivery service under owners Beatrice and Mike Greenough, who purchased the popular South Glens Falls eatery on August 31.

They’re giving the business a complete makeover, from new menu offerings to a newly-paved parking lot and a safer, more welcoming children’s playground. In place of large red-and-white umbrellas out front, plans call for a covered pavilion to keep customers dry when it rains, and hosting twice-monthly car and bike shows along with Elvis-type live entertainment next summer.

“I really want to make this a fun place in South Glens Falls to go,” Beatrice said.

The venture is right in tune with her entrepreneurial husband’s mindset.