Small Businesses or Large Chain?

 Our local indoor mall, unlike so many others, still exists.  It is reinventing itself.

The largest store Dick's Sporting Goods (which started in nearby Binghamton, New York, and its original store, in fact, is still operating a mere feet from where it first opened) is being built.  It is hiring.

Mixed use is the theme of the day: a health club, an urgent care, a brewpub, and others have already opened.

We are getting a BJ's Wholesale Club, too.

The newest announcement:  A Dave and Buster's.   They are a popular arcade/restaurant chain.

So what's there not to love?

Various long term businesses in the mall, businesses that stuck out the hard times, are being displaced. Some had to leave December 31, 2022.  At least one relocated within the mall - a store that sells locally made goods.

After that, it was told (I know this because I know someone who works there) they had to vacate the new location within the mall by May 31.  Along with that local goods store, several other long term businesses were told to relocate:  a dental office, an escape room/game store, a Game Stop, a coffee shop, and an arcade.  All of these businesses were there pre-COVID.

This is due to the Dave and Buster's.

At least two of the businesses are moving outside the mall to neighboring towns.  When I was at the mall yesterday, the escape room business was in the midst packing up.  The Game Stop had a sign saying they were closing May 31.  The dental office didn't have a sign, so I don't know its fate.

Personally, I am not happy about this.  I can't blame any of these places for not staying in the mall.   Who can guarantee they won't be relocated yet again when a chain comes in?

Perhaps it's for the best, and these businesses just moving and not going out of business will thrive outside the mall.

Yet, small businesses vs large chain - it just seems wrong.

A Good Man A Good Woman

When did you get in the habit of reading obituaries?

For me, it's been a while, perhaps back when I was in my 40's.  It's always a sad occasion, too, when I see a familiar name in the obituaries.

Sunday was one of those times, with the obituary of Joseph Kovarik, Sr. 

Mr. Kovarik's family owns a hardware store in Binghamton, New York.   It's an old time kind of hardware store, where help is immediately available if you have a question.  It's good help, too, dispensed with the kind of customer service you wish was available elsewhere.

I would always see the same people in the store when we did go there - perhaps family, perhaps employees who stayed on for years.  That says a lot about an employer.

I don't think I ever met Joseph Kovarik, Sr. when I was in there, but let me tell you a couple of things about him.

He was a talented musician who served in World War II, and then joined his father's hardware business.  He worked there for 72 years - my entire life plus a couple of years for good measure.  His son Joseph Jr, who also worked in the hardware store, passed away in 2021from cancer at the age of 63.

Mr. Kovarik, Sr. retired when he was 96, only because of COVID and the danger of a man his age working retail.  When he passed away earlier this month, he was 99.

I can not imagine someone loving what he did for work so much that he worked at it for 72 years.

Which brings me to a Rochester, New York area woman by the name of Edith Lank, who passed away on New Year's Day at the age of 96.

For years, Ms. Lank had a real estate column in our Sunday paper.  No, let's not call it a real estate column - it was more real estate mixed with a little Dear Abby advice column.  I think the column was in our paper when I moved to this area in the mid 1980's.  It was still in the paper in the summer of 2019 when she wrote her last column.  Before then, I had discovered that Ms. Lank was in her 90's and marveled at her stamina.  Like Joseph Kovarik, Sr. she loved what she did.

She was a pioneer in so many ways, and an expert on Jane Austen.

I invite you to read her last column.

When she died, it made the front page of our paper.

This man and this woman will both will be missed.

A Tropical Small Business Saturday

A respite from our dreary weather.

I'll be willing to bet that you have a small business in or near your community that is a "Hidden Treasure" - people in the know know there is something special about the business.

No, no promotion here, and I'm not being paid for any plug.  I just like this business.  They've been around since 1975, and have survived several floods and (so far) the pandemic.

Spouse and I went to Tioga Gardens near Owego, New York, for Small Business Saturday. My regular readers know I am a sucker for plants, and I needed some supplies.  They were having a once a year "everything is on sale" promotion for Small Business Saturday.

But I also wanted a taste of the tropics.  Tioga Gardens has had a conservatory attached to their store for many years.  I know they have plants that are over 40 years old in there.  I'm not sure this is one of them, but you certainly can not grow Bread Fruit trees in our climate.

Nor banyon trees.

One more taste of the tropics.

If you are a real plant lover, you can take a virtual tour, courtesy of You Tube.

They have non plant items for sale, too.

And, of course, reminders of the pandemic.

I call this business a "hidden treasure" of the Southern Tier of New York.  I plan to post more pictures from my visit today on Friday for Skywatch Friday.

Do you have a small business in your area that you consider a hidden treasure?

Dashing Through the Sleet

 In a normal year, today would have been the Holiday Showcase of the Village of Owego, New York, once called the "Coolest Small Town in America". 

But this is not a normal year, and this year there is no Holiday Showcase.

But we decided to walk through some of the village today,  

It was cut short by sleet starting to come down, but I got some pictures before we gave up.

 

Shop Small.

 

Mask up.

 

Discover a book or two at a indie bookstore.  Stepping in here is like a trip back in time.  We didn't today.

This department store has been repurposed as an antiques mall.

It was sad seeing at least a couple of closed shops.  One in particular was the Hand of Man, which closed not long before COVID-19 hit.  It had been in business for 46 years.  This is one of my memories from its last Christmas open (2019).

It's easy to be depressed when the sky is dreary, the wind is blowing, and winter weather threatens.  But, at least for a time today, I fought off the gloom.  

Maybe now I'll curl up with a good book.  Right now I'm reading Hench: A Novel by Natalie Zina Walschots, and I'm loving it.  I'll let you know more after I finish it.

Small Business Saturday in the Time of Coronavirus

Today is Small Business Saturday.  I traditionally write a Small Business Saturday blog post.  But today, my mind can't seem to get into the groove.

And times are hard, here in the Southern Tier of New York State, and elsewhere.

I looked at some of my previous posts, listing where I went to shop, and the voice in my head recited:

Out of business.  Out of business.  No, not going there - no reason to.  

Out of business.   

Yes, this jewelry store I mentioned in 2012 is a woman-owned business now but I stopped wearing jewelry about two weeks into being sent home to work. 

I didn't worry about Made in USA vs. Made Abroad but Sold by a Local Business, like I had some years. 

I did almost none of the traditional Black Friday or Small Business Saturday things.  I didn't get up at 5am.  I slept in.  I went walking.  I read.  I watched TV.  I got ready to put holiday decorations up. 

 I did feel a little guilty about shopping online at a couple of chain stores that have a brick and mortar presence here, but they offer curbside pickup and, I reason, they employ locals.  I'm sure going to like those slippers I treated myself to.

Via TV, I got my first look at our local indoor mall since March, which was also the last time I was in there.  Several small businesses are located in that mall.  I know someone who works in one of them.  Hate to say it, but too depressing.  

Our Mall, 2019

Santa is coming to the mall December 4 but it's going to be different (what isn't?) This year, for  social distancing reasons, Santa will sit behind "snow globe" decorations that "will allow children to interact with Santa through plexiglass." And, oh yes, you have to make an appointment.

I ended up going to the grand total of one small business today - a (what else?) nursery.  I bought a ZZ plant (something I've wanted to own for some time but never got around to it), a self watering pot (for the Vietnamese Coriander we took cuttings from - they have rooted nicely), some potting soil, and two small but fancy poinsettias.

Plants are my source of happiness.

So, this strange year, I am not going to guilt myself.  I'm alive.  I am not sick. I am who I am, and that is OK.