Category Archives: Business News

By Andrea Harwood

The owners of Robinson Ace Hardware have expanded by acquiring a third store, Crescent Ace Hardware, located at 135 Lapp Road in Clifton Park.

The two other stores are located at 1874 West Ave in Albany and 1900 New Scotland Road in Slingerlands.

The purchase came about as the partners were looking for opportunities to expand.

 “We did a whole-store renovation inside, doing a complete reset with design, fixtures and products,” said McDonnell. 

He said the partners wanted a store with up-to-date inventory, with a layout design that flowed well. The reset took around three months. McDonnell said all has been running smoothly  and the store anticipates having a strong finish to the year. 

The partners teamed up with Ace Hardware directly for design and renovations, with many local subcontractors being used. Inventory was updated based on demographic research.

A Saratoga PLAN fundraiser event last month raised over $100,000, organization officials said.

The first PLAN For the Future event took place Oct. 20 at Juniper Springs Event Barn in Corinth, with over 150 guests attending.

The money raised supports Saratoga PLAN’s ongoing land conservation and stewardship efforts across Saratoga County.

Guests were treated to an expansive selection of food and drinks including honeycrisp vodka from regional distillery 1911 Spirits; local craft beer and wine from Artisanal Beer Works, Common Roots Brewery, Adirondack Winery and Old Tavern Farm; and offerings from chef David Britton’s roving food truck, Pies on Wheels.

Those offerings included such as wood-fired pizza and farm-to-fork dishes like zucchini parmesan with ingredients from Pleasant Valley Farm in Argyle, and chicken with tikka masala rub from Full Circle Farm in the Hudson Valley. Jazz music was provided by lGrand Boubousse. The evening concluded with sweet treats donated by local baker Leah Stein of Leah’s Cakery in Round Lake. 

PLAN’s new executive director, Rob Davies, welcomed guests. He spoke about his transition earlier this year from the DEC state forester for 22 years, to working in nonprofit land conservation in the Saratoga region. 

“The future of conservation today is protecting family farms and wood lots in our communities across the state,” he said. “It is protecting those special open spaces in our backyards where we live, work, and play every day that form the character and quality of life of our communities that are under so much pressure today.”

By Susan Elise Campbell

What started as a plan to add more production and canning space has snowballed into an additional restaurant and event space that doubles the size of Common Roots Brewing Co. at 58 Saratoga Ave. in South Glens Falls. 

Guests are already booking weddings and corporate events for up to 250 people, according to Christian Weber, who owns the brewery with his father, Bert Weber.

“The site has been cleared and the steel for footings has arrived,” said Weber. “We hope to have the new building up and closed in by the end of the year and opened to customers the end of spring.”

The new building and beer garden is being designed and built by Phinney Design Group of Saratoga Springs with V&H Construction Inc. as lead contractor. These are the same firms that rebuilt the modern Adirondack-style structure in 2020.

“We’re putting the team back together because we love what they did for us,” said Weber.

By Andrea Harwood

Jaylene Leonbruno opened Tailored Real Estate Group, after working in real estate for over 15 years.

The office is located in the Bluth Building at 2452 Route 9 in Malta, on the third floor. The office opened around a year ago, and Leonbruno said she has had a very strong start to her first year in business.

Leonbruno began her career in real estate by helping sell properties her father-in-law purchased at tax auctions. She represented him in the selling listing.

“I became a broker-owner because I felt like there were things in the industry that I wanted more of from a company,” said Leonbruno. “I felt I could fill in the gaps in areas I thought were lacking. And I could offer that to someone else as well. I wanted to start a company where people could grow and evolve without the constraints of a big business.”

Leonbruno houses 10 agents in addition to herself. Her specialty is in new construction. She represents G.W. Luxe and Heritage Custom Builders with multiple subdivisions primarily in Saratoga County. She services from the Bolton Landing area as far south as Albany. Her primary focus is Clifton Park through Glens Falls.

By Susan Elise Campbell

Longtime real estate professional Lynn Johnson launched Johnson Capital Realty in Halfmoon this summer to reflect her commitment to the Capital Region and her personal brand of customer service.

“Real estate is in my blood and has always been a passion,” said Johnson, who entered the field in 2003 in a “now or never” moment that set the career she “had always wanted” into motion.

“The drop-out rate for new agents is very high during the first year or two,” she said. “But I worked very hard and never gave up.”

 She followed the advice she now gives to her licensed real estate agents: “Work your contacts, the center-of-influence people you know, and be willing to talk about real estate so that when they think about real estate, they think of you.”

Johnson worked with several of the area’s well known realty firms until 2018, when she went out as a sole agent working out of Ballston Lake. Today she is a broker with five agents and three more joining Johnson Capital Realty by the end of the year, she said.

While today’s market is “challenging,” according to Johnson her business plan is “on track,” which includes training more agents and hiring some staff. But she will keep the business “on the small side,” she said. “I would like to double in size in a few years, but it’s quality, not quantity, that I am focusing on.”

Nemer Motor Group and the Nemer family have stepped up to support cardiac care at Saratoga Hospital, helping fund equipment to help meet increased demand for cardiac monitoring in the hospital’s Alfred Z. Solomon Emergency Center.

A donation was made to procure an additional cardiac monitor.

 Saratoga Hospital set records for Emergency Department patients in April, May and June, including many who required cardiac monitoring, hospital officials said.

 “Chest pain is the second most frequent complaint of Emergency Department patients worldwide,” said Lisa West, administrative director of emergency and urgent care services at Saratoga Hospital. “Thanks to the Nemers’ generosity, we now have an additional cardiac monitor— \an invaluable tool for giving patients the best chance for a positive outcome.”

The monitor is the Nemer family’s third cardiac-related gift to Saratoga Hospital in recent months. Since March 2021, the family has donated $56,000 to provide the Emergency Department monitor, fund four neonatal cardiac monitors, and underwrite the hospital’s subscription to the emergency LifeNet System.