Saratoga Business Journal
By Christine Graf
Almost 80 years ago, the Dake brothers opened their first Stewart’s ice cream shop in Ballston Spa. Today, Stewart’s Shops has 357 stores and more than 5,000 employees on the payroll.
Each year, the company spends approximately $50 million to purchase property, build new stores, and renovate existing stores.
“For the last five to ten years, that has been our model,” said Robin Cooper, public relations manager for Stewart’s Shops. “We identify which stores don’t have the food-to-go option—the pizza, the sandwiches, the soups. That’s been our growth area, and that’s what customers seem to be wanting more of. Some of our older stores may have been renovated but may not have been expanded to the level where we can add some of those things.”
When expansion isn’t possible, the company sometimes purchases nearby property, building a new store and shuttering the old one. That was recently the case for the small shop located at the corner of Watervliet-Shaker and Old Loudon Roads in Latham. Expansion of the store, one built in 1981, was not possible, and there was no adjoining property available for sale.
“There wasn’t property to be had to expand at that site,” said Cooper, noting that a new shop, one that is expected to open before the end of the year, is being built 1.5 miles away at 956 Loudon Road.
The company plans to sell the property on the corner of Watervliet-Shaker and Old Loudon Road, and several buyers have expressed interest in purchasing it.
In recent years, Stewart’s has sold several of their old locations after building new stores in the vicinity. The one at 16 Round Lake Road in Malta was purchased by Kimberly Salerno, who opened a law office in a former Stewart’s location. The building sat empty for several years after a new store was built on property directly across the street. Before opening her office in late 2022, Salerno completely renovated the building, both inside and out. Just a few miles north at 2505 Route 9 in Ballston Spa, another former Stewart’s Shop was transformed into La Lume Hair Salon. Owner Shannon Ramirez spent more than $1 million to purchase and renovate the building.
Stewart’s also sold property several years ago on Northline Road in Ballston Spa after opening a new store nearby. A property located at 542 Central Avenue in Albany was recently sold after that shop was closed at the end of last year.
“We don’t sell a lot of our real estate, and it’s a case by case situation,” said Cooper. “When we do sell, there might be a deed restriction that the property can’t be used as a convenience store. That depends on the property’s location relative to a new store.”
According to Cooper, Stewart’s Shops does plan to sell a large amount of commercially-zoned land that is located behind its Route 9 headquarters in Ballston Spa.
“We have 70 acres, and we are looking for opportunities to develop that commercially. The first deal we made was with Ed Mitzen’s Business for Good. We sold a small piece to them, and they plan to use it for some sort of pet care business.
With 14 projects on the calendar, 2024 will be another busy year for Stewart’s Shops. Five store renovations and nine store replacements are in the works. Locally, an expansion is planned for the shop located on South Broadway in Saratoga Springs, and a replacement is planned for the Sherman Avenue shop in Glens Falls.
“The Sherman Avenue shop is a smaller shop, and we’re working on acquiring property next door. That will be a knock down and rebuild,” said Cooper.
The knock down and rebuild at 402 Lake Avenue in Saratoga Springs is nearly complete. The old store was replaced with a 4,000-square-foot store with two self-serve gasoline canopies.
“It’s a great location, but the shop wasn’t the right size and the right fit ,” said Cooper. “The new shop is a lot bigger. We thought we were going to finish it last year, but we were held up waiting on a traffic pole signal. We just got it a few weeks ago, so we will be wrapping up that project.”
As Stewart’s Shops continues to grow, Cooper said the company is interested in expanding in the Hudson Valley region, the Adirondacks, and Onondaga County.
Stewart’s established a strong presence into Central New York in 2021 after purchasing the Blueox Neighborhood Market convenience store chain, rebranding five of the stores as Stewart’s Shops and one as Stewart’s Express. That same year, Stewart’s Shops acquired the assets of Red-Kap, a wholesale petroleum distributor with eight convenience stores and four car washes. Two of those stores were converted to traditional Stewart’s Shops, the remainder branded as Stewart’s Express, small shops with limited product offerings. But it was Red-Kap’s fuel distribution to more than 75 dealers that was at the heart of the deal.
“A lot of people don’t realize that we’re also a gas wholesaler,” said Cooper. “We have a network of about 100 dealers.”
Because the company continues to expand, demand for the popular food-to-go options has increased dramatically. As a result, Stewart’s Shops plans to double the size of its commercial kitchen, located at its manufacturing plant in Greenfield. Construction on that project is slated to begin later this year.
“That’s going to be a $3 million-plus investment,” said Cooper. “That’s where we make all of our chili, meatballs, soups, and sandwiches. Last year, we made over 250 tons of chili.”