Category Archives: Business News

By Jill Nagy

The owners of Aviation Mall in Glens Falls received two pieces of good news in June. They received the go-ahead from the town of Queensbury to expand the mall to include a mixed-use and residential development project and, along with other malls in the area, they received permission to re-open part of the mall as the state moves forward with reopening during the coronavirus pandemic.

As New York state slowly allows businesses look to reopen in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, shopping malls are acclimating to the new rules.

By Andrea Harwood Palmer

Shelly Walker is relocating her interior design business and showroom, Finishing Touches Home Décor.

The new location is at 450 E. High St. in Malta, on the corner of Route 9, across the highway from the Publik  House. The property previously housed Collamer House Bike & Ski.

“I started a moving sale. The sale, had fliers and mailings—everything ready for a big sale. The following week, we had to close down. (Due to the coronavirus). I sold a few little things and put some larger items like furniture into our storage facility. We had to pack most of the store up and move it all with us to the new location,” said Walker.

By Andrea Harwood Palmer

Fingerpaint Marketing, the health and wellness marketing agency in Saratoga Springs, has acquired the California-based market access and commercialization firm 1798.

The acquisition took place earlier this year.

Fingerpaint works primarily with health care, biotech and pharmaceutical companies.

1798 is a 60-person team located on La Jolla, Calif. The agency specializes in health consulting services to medical device, pharmaceutical and diagnostic companies. The company is named after the year in which the modern health insurance system was created.

Bill McEllen, a partner at Fingerpaint, said  the coronavirus shutdown has not slowed down the integration process of the two companies.

By Andrea Harwood Palmer

Death Wish Coffee Co. has added a vice president of supply chain to its staff as the company continues to grow. 

Jason Mazzotti joins the Saratoga County business from GlobalFoundries, where he led global materials procurement. He will be in charge of the manufacturing plant, working closely with the warehouse team.

The hire was part of three new positions created in the company. Death Wish promoted former wholesale director Eric Donovan to vice president of business development, and former human resources director Lindsey Speech to vice president of talent & culture.

By Andrea Harwood Palmer

OrbitalFire, a managed security service provider headquartered in Queensbury, launched a  new service platform in early June. It is designed to help small businesses.

“OrbitalFire provides cybersecurity solutions specially designed for small and medium-sized businesses, including regulatory compliance, risk management, assessment, training, security monitoring and other services that have traditionally been available only to enterprises,” according to CEO Reg Harnish.

“Cybersecurity is confusing for most businesses—they don’t know where to start. Our goal at OrbitalFire is to redefine cybersecurity for small businesses. Your small to medium business doesn’t look like Target, or Walmart, or Boeing. So you shouldn’t think about cybersecurity in the same way they do,” he said.

By Susan E. Campbell

Shepherd Communication & Security, an electronic security and structured wiring integrator, is helping client companies stop coronavirus “at the front door” by offering thermal cameras it says that screen people for elevated body temperature before they step into a business.

“Thermal imaging is a fairly mature technology that came out of the military 45 years ago,” said Richard Ruzzo, managing partner, who founded the company with Robert Guillerault in 2007. “Infrared thermal imaging today has a broad variety of medical applications for screening and diagnosing a patient in real time.”

Ruzzo said elevated body temperature  levels (EBT ) are being captured extensively with cameras and scanners by first responders during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“EBT is highly correlated with sickness,” he said. “Identifying individuals with EBT as an early warning can dramatically slow the spread of viruses and infections,” he said.

For the first time in its 53-year history, Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) has   canceled its 2020 classical music and ballet season.

This includes SPAC’s summer resident companies New York City Ballet, The Philadelphia Orchestra and Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, as well as “Not Our First Goat Rodeo” featuring Yo-Yo Ma, and “SPAC on Stage.”

SPAC, along with its board of directors, made the decision to suspend its programming this summer in recognition of the continued threat to health and safety caused by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.