Category Archives: New Businesses

By Jennifer Farnsworth

Bill Maher, owner of Bluebird Auto, 134 Saratoga Ave., South Glens Falls, said he, his wife Tina, and his father William, have one goal: to sell quality pre-owned vehicles. 

Maher also runs Compton’s Restaurant in Saratoga Springs. He said he has always worked in some capacity in the auto industry. With the help of his wife, he decided it was time to open up his own business. 

“I was always working for others in the car business. My wife said, ‘Why don’t you try this on your own? So here we are. The people in the South Glens Falls community could not be nicer people. So easy to talk to. We are so happy to be doing business here,” said Maher.

When Maher is not at Compton’s he is at Bluebird. When he can’t be there, his father works the lot. 

“My dad is there almost all the time, running the place, taking care of the buying and selling,” said Maher.

Bluebird’s Saratoga location used to be a hot dog restaurant.

by Jennifer Farnsworth

Amanda McCarty haas opened Tide & Purl, 123 Broad St. in Schuylerville, a self described curated modern gift shop that has enjoyed a healthy response since first opening.

McCarty is now looking ahead to what she hopes will be a busy holiday season.

“Since opening my doors on Oct. 1, the response from the public has been overwhelmingly positive.  Many customers have said a gift shop was just what our village needed, and it’s been such a fun  adventure so far seeing repeat patrons return to see what new things have come in,” said McCarty.

She said customers seem happy with the assortment of collections, adding that she couldn’t be happier with her location.

“We live in such a  special community here in Schuylerville and I’m very proud to be here. The location is perfect with new  sidewalks, cross walks and a parking lot. I live right in the village which is an added bonus, there is no  commute, and the school is close enough that I am available if the kids need me. It’s truly the perfect spot,” said McCarty.

McCarty was born and raised in Maine where she attended the University of Southern Maine  with a degree in communication and media studies. She moved to Schuylerville in 2010 and became a  stay at home mom, which is when she also started seriously thinking of starting her own business.

By Jennifer Farnsworth

Jade Leonbruno says  working alongside her sister, running her own business, is like a dream. But today, that’s what she is doing.

She operates Nash Beauty Bar at 125 Main St. in South Glens Falls. It is a one-stop shop for hair and skin care.

Leonbruno said after working in a chain hair salon business for 11 years, she was ready for a change. When the opportunity presented itself, she decided to take a leap of faith.

“I love what I do. I love making people feel happy and most of all I love being free to be as creative as I have grown to be.⁣ I  want to set new limits and push myself to grow … I always knew I wanted to evolve as a hairstylist in one way or another. This opportunity came up and I ran with it,” she said.

The business offers a wide variety of  hair and skin care services, specializing in “lived in” colors such as balayages, foilayage and babylights. She also does haircuts, styling, Olaplex treatments, teeth whitening, body sculpting, lash lifts and tints, body waxing, and facials. They also provide high-end sculpting services such as radio frequency skin tightening and ultrasonic cavatation.

By Jennifer Farnsworth

For Rosemary Keville, candy is more than a sweet treat.

As owner of Keville Handcrafted Chocolates, a state-certified Woman Owned Business Enterprise, Keville specializes in making bonbons, caramels and buttercrunch, all of which hold a special meaning for her.

She said her affection for the candies comes from visits she once took with her parents to Ireland, where they were originally from. She remembers her mom’s love of black licorice and the caramels that her dad looked forward to.

Keville said her father was a master carpenter who taught her how to pay attention to details. As he was starting to find chewing more difficult, she decided to learn how to make the candy in a fashion that he could enjoy.

“I learned to make a soft version for my dad, and I also started making buttercrunch for my mom, something that she loved,” she said.

She is also the owner of Keville Insurance, another Certified Women Owned Business Enterprise. She has been involved in insurance and risk management for over 20 years.  At one point, she started bringing the homemade candies to her clients and from there the interest in her handmade treats started to spiral.

Keville Handcrafted Chocolates is located at 100 Saratoga Village Boulevard, Suite 42, in Malta. Opening in that space was over a year in the making.

By Andrea Harwood Palmer

Amy Catalfamo, OTR/L, has opened a pediatric occupational therapy practice called sensory tOT spot at 3 Hemphill Place, Suite 104, in Malta.

Catalfamo began the business venture two and a half years ago, as a community-based mobile therapist. She travelled to day care centers, preschools and homes to see clients.

She moved into her Malta location in March.

“At this point, it felt like the right time to open a brick and mortar location,” said Catalfamo. “It’s always been my dream, to open a practice of my own to meet the needs of kiddos in the community.”

Catalfamo sees patients from infants to 21 years. She utilizes numerous therapy techniques and follows a “family-centered, child-directed and therapist-guided practice model.”

Catalfamo said she always knew she wanted to work with children. Her mother operated a home daycare while she was growing up. It was her mother who suggested she go to school to become an occupational therapist.

Catalfamo completed her undergraduate work at Russell Sage College. She attended Sage Graduate School for her doctorate degree in occupational therapy, working at her mother’s daycare while attending school.

“When I graduated, I got my first job working with elderly patients in a nursing home,” she said. “It was totally opposite of where I thought I would land. I learned a lot and grew a lot.”

By Jennifer Farnsworth
It was almost 20 years ago that Timmy Emanuel developed a business plan at SUNY Cobleskill as part of the curriculum. At the time, he came up with the name of his business—Native Sun Flowers.

Emanuel eventually put that plan to work and his dream is now reality. He operates Native Sun Flowers on Route 9 in Halfmoon, where people can find hanging baskets, herbs, perennials, annuals, houseplants, bedding plants and more.

His passion for horticulture runs deep and   can be found in all the detail he has laid out  for the business, including the logo. He said the meaning of the yellow and orange floral symbol stems from his Zia Pueblo people background.

Emanuel has 30 years of experience as a greenhouse grower. He began his career in 1991 working for the NYU Langone’s Rusk Rehabilitation in New York City. He said he worked in a small tropical greenhouse that was built specifically for hospital patients’ horticultural therapy.

“After working for several years at the hospital I decided to move to upstate. I moved to Schenectady and found a job working for a small mom-and-pop greenhouse in Niskayuna,” said Emanuel.

After moving to the Capital Region, he enrolled in the horticulture program at SUNY Cobleskill, graduating in the spring of 2003 with a bachelor’s degree in plant science. After graduating, he moved to New Hampshire, working for Pleasant View Gardens where they grow the Proven Winner brand of plants. He also gained experience working in Connecticut and New Jersey before returning to New York

By Jennifer Farnsworth

It was love at first bite for Nothing Bundt Cake franchise owners Matt and Melissa Gleason.

“My husband’s family lives in Baton Rouge, La., and they all raved about the Nothing Bundt Cakes there,” said Melissa Gleason. “His mom sent us a white chocolate raspberry cake and that was all it took. The cake was amazing.”

She said it was after trying the mini-cakes a few years back that she started thinking of how she could bring it into the area.

The first one was in Albany in 2017. The two opened a second location of their bakery business in March in the Clifton Park Center Mall.

She said the franchise does demographic studies and helps select the locations.

“In Albany, we renovated an existing space and in Clifton Park we moved into a brand new space. We looked into opening one because there were none in New York … We are aiming for Saratoga next,” said Gleason.

Gleason said they worked with a franchise approved architect to give the bakeries the same look and feel, with the layout in each bakery being very similar. The locations also have consistent cake size options and flavors.

“We have cute retail samples and cake displays. We carry four sizes of cake, our smaller bundtinis, which come by the dozen, our individual bundtlets, and our eight- and 10-inch cakes,” she said.

By Andrea Harwood-Palmer

NightWork Bread Co. is a new sourdough bread company in Saratoga Springs.

Co-founders Leigh Rathner and Cindy Rosenberg distribute the bread at the Saratoga Farmer’s Market, Spa City Farmer’s Market and Bolton Landing Farmer’s Market. The husband-and-wife team began selling their bread on the first weekend of May. Rathner said they have sold out every weekend.

Rathner grew up on Long Island and had grandparents in the Catskills. He went to college in Oneonta. He moved to the Adirondacks then moved to Los Angeles for professional and personal reasons.

“I never wanted to leave. My heart has always been here,” said Rathner. “When Cindy and I were discussing how to get out of the city, and how to make this bread business into an actual living that could support a family, we decided we wanted to do it here.”

Rathner and Rosenberg moved back to the area in February. They rented a kitchen from 9 Miles East Farm, which had state Board of Health certified working space available.

The common thread among all of NightWork Bread Co’s products is that they are all naturally leavened. The partners use a sourdough starter as the leavening agent for everything they make.

Sourdough and naturally leavened wheat products utilize a fermentation process that breaks down certain proteins in the wheat. The process makes the bread more digestible for most people.

Both Rathner and Rosenburg have had digestive issues throughout their lives. Testing for gluten intolerance came back negative, yet they were unable to eat any kind of wheat products for over 10 years. A friend recommended they try naturally fermented wheat, specifically long-fermented sourdough bread.