Category Archives: New Businesses

By Susan Elise Campbell
Bound By Fate Brewing is a story of three generations and a business coming together in Schuylerville.
Co-founders Pam Pradachith-Demler and her husband Brett Demler had started in the craft beer industry in California, which had exploded after the Farm Brewery Bill was passed there. They imagined the brewery they would someday start themselves would have a unique business model of two-barrel production, brewing styles from around the world and dependence on local ingredients.
“My husband had been gathering beer names, recipes and design labels for 10 years,” she said.
Along with Brett’s two brothers, Evan and Ryan Demler, the partners incorporated in January of 2019. But Pradachith-Demler said it took a year to find the location that suited all their requirements, from their residence to their taproom, and head east “with no huge financial backing but our savings and some loans and gifts from family members.”

By Jill Nagy
OxiFresh Carpet Cleaning has a new owner, but he promises customers, “there will be no changes in your relationship with OxiFresh.”
The only difference people will notice, said new owner Andrew Allen, is “when speaking to management you will now be working with me.”
Allen was a technician and then manager with the company for three years. He began in 2017 as a technician. A year later, he was manager of operations.
While he worked his way up, Allen was also a student at SUNY Adirondack where he earned a business degree. He was simultaneously a full-time student and a full-time employee at OxiFresh.

By Jill Nagy
John Herbaly wants old-fashioned service and reliability to be the hallmarks of his new business, Old School Pest Control LLC in South Glens Falls.
After 20 years working for other companies, Herbaly opened his own business on June 1. So far, it is a family enterprise.
Daughter Skylar designed the company’s logo, an owl wearing a mortarboard, sitting on a branch. Her sister, Larissa who loves owls provided the inspiration for that logo, ,her father said.
They are still too young to work, he said, but the girls are learning the business. His wife, Lisa, on the other hand, runs the office. If things continue to go well, he expects to add another employee next year.
Herbaly said he wants a company that has “old ways, deals sealed with a handshake, excellent customer service, and honesty behind the work. I wanted my company to be about people.”

By Jill Nagy
Work is ongoing to transform the former Bruegger’s Bagels shop at 453 Broadway into a Cooperstown Distillery tavern, bar, tasting room, and retail outlet.
The original distillery in Cooperstown will continue to produce vodka, gin, bourbon, rye whiskey and rum.
Owner Gene Mara visualizes several deliveries a week from the distillery to the Saratoga tavern. All the liquors are produced from grains grown at Inverness Farms, a small farm in Canajoharie.
The Saratoga tavern will be the second satellite serving Cooperstown Distillery products. The first one is in downtown Cooperstown. The original distillery has been in business for seven and a half years.
A small wooden bar, constructed in Morocco and purchased from a local attorney, is waiting to be installed as the tasting bar, Mara said.

By Andrea Harwood Palmer
A new ice cream parlor has opened up in Malta, adjacent to Finishing Touches Home Décor at 450 East High St. in Malta.
Doug Dockendorf developed the idea with Finishing Touches founder Shelly Walker.
“I had the idea of developing a shop with another retail space attached to it. I own part of Finishing Touches as well. Shelley Walker (owner of Finishing Touches Home Decor) and I own the property together, so we developed the idea that we would put two shops together on the same space,” said Dockendorf.
“We found a great old historic building. It used to be the old Town Hall. I redesigned the small section in the back of the property to make it what it is now,” said Dockendorf.
The ice cream parlor is located around the back of the property, near the patio. Customers can walk next to the adjacent park while eating their ice cream.

By Rachel Phillips

The father and son team of Tom and Wayne Samascott recently built a new climate-controlled storage center o n Ballard Road, near Northway Exit 16.

Northway Exit 16 Self Storage offers clients a convenient access as it is  located just 1,000 feet down from the exit.

Tom and Wayne Samascott are president and vice president, respectively, of Malta Development Co. They opened the storage center in March.

“I have been interested in doing self-storage for the past several years and the opportunity to by this project came along,” Wayne Samascott said. “We liked the location. Ballard Road gets a lot of traffic.”

By Andrea Palmer Harwood

Work continues on a new Darling Doughnuts shop at 441 Broadway in downtown Saratoga Springs.

“Progress has been slower than we had originally hoped, but we’ve reached the last couple weeks of the construction phase of our project. Things are finally starting to come together.” said owner Natascha Pearl-Mansman.

“It’s been amazing to see the space transform,” she said. “Originally it was just an open rectangle with dark brown walls. Now we’ve brightened it up and added our commercial kitchen space and front end. My business partner, Glenn Severance, has been at the shop nearly every day throughout the pandemic, keeping things going as best as he could with all the limitations. Now that things are slowly opening back up, we’re working at full speed to complete what has turned into a six-plus  month project.”

By Andrea Harwood Palmer
A new sushi restaurant has opened in Malta at 2452 Route 9.
Briana Lin opened Azuma Sushi Bistro in February. Lin, her family and business partners also own and operate Kobe Hibachi, Yang’s Asian Bistro and T-Swirl Japanese Crepe, all in Latham.
“My family has been in the restaurant business for over 30 years,” said Lin. “My other businesses have done very well and my friends kept telling me I should open a sushi restaurant in the Malta area because there was nothing like it around.”

Chaz Wilson has opened New Finish Sealcoating in Glens Falls. A native of the Glens Falls area, Wilson is the owner of Pack-it-in Dumpsters.
New Finish Sealcoating will serve the area including Glens Falls, Queensbury, Lake George, Schroon Lake, Saratoga Springs, and Clifton Park.
He said the sealcoating company will follow in the same footsteps as his dumpster company.
“Folks in Glens Falls can trust that New Finish Sealcoating will deliver the same ethical, reliable service that they’re already familiar with from Pack-It-In Dumpsters,” Wilson said.
“As a business owner, my number-one priority has always been customer experience and satisfaction. That’s why local customers voted for me in the Readers’ Choice Awards in 2018 [Post-Star newspaper]. And it’s why they can confidently trust me to carry on that tradition and deliver exceptional blacktop sealcoating at competitive rates.”

By Jennifer Farnsworth
The Soundbar at 8 Caroline St. in Saratoga Springs is a new venue for people to unwind on the weekends.
Marketing director for the new dance club Brian Miller said he and owner Joshua Loucks are striving to create a place that mirrors the atmosphere of a good party.
“When we thought about how we wanted Soundbar to be different from The Reserve (the space’s previous incarnation), this is the type of scene we pictured. A place with great music that reaches across a target crowd of about 35 to 55, providing something for everybody. Everyone has fun at weddings, so why not create that same feeling, that same type of fun,” said Miller.