The Jewel of Uptown

December 22nd, 2009

Schneiders Jewelers
290 Wall Street
(845) 331-1888

Schneider's Jewelers-1
In 1928, Gustave Schneider opened a jewelry store on Broadway, near UPAC. His son George moved the shop uptown in 1949, and it’s been there ever since. The store is still run by the family– owners Tom Jacobi and his wife Deborah are third generation—and doubtless some customers are third generation as well. But while Schneider’s is solidly traditional—ten of its 14 full and part time staff have worked at the store for more than 20 years—it’s no anachronism: last year, the store underwent a major renovation, and its small but luxuriant store windows—elegantly decorated for the holidays with frosted miniature Christmas trees and toy Victorian houses draped with necklaces and bracelets—are a testament to its on-going success. The plush, pale green carpet, polished paneling, bright but subdued lighting, and artfully displayed jewelry and gifts are a throwback to the era when shopping was actually pleasurable—leisurely, measured, a balm to the soul.
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“People enjoy shopping here,” Jacobi said. “We try to maintain the world that used to be, in terms of ethics and how to deal with customers. We are a member of the American Gem Society, which requires you to be a one-price store.” At the same time, he said that the business has put in new lines of merchandise to draw in a new base of customers. An example is Pandora, a “fairly new line of bracelets and links that’s taken the industry by storm. It’s a great price point, and you can add to the collection, so it’s a constant-giving gift.”

Schneider’s still has a robust bridal business: examples of silver, crystal, and china from Holloware, Botanic Garden, Waterford, Swarovski and other fine brands are displayed behind floor-to-ceiling cases in the separate gift room. The store stocks both high-end Hearts on Fire diamonds and colorful fabric Vera Bradley bags. “It’s a constant battle to find the right mix,” said Jacobi. “We can’t price ourselves out of the market. We need to focus on attracting younger people who don’t know the history of our store, are internet savvy and travel.”

Besides having the right product mix, Schneider’s is also big on service and employs a couple of experienced gemologists. “We do a very big repair business,” said Jacobi. “We have three people in the shop who do engraving, stringing and sizing. We make our own jewelry.” Schneider’s also does lots of advertising as well as e-mail marketing. It has a website, with many of its products depicted on-line. Word of mouth, however, is still a powerful persuasive tool.

For 26 years, Schneider’s had a second location—first at the Hudson Valley Mall, then on Ulster Avenue. But in 2008 Jacobi consolidated at the Uptown location. “I care about Uptown,” he said. ‘It’s a great asset to the community.” He was able to retain most of the employees and invested in the new renovation, which included new casing, lighting and carpeting.

“People would love to shop [in Uptown] if they had a reason,” Jacobi said. “I think it can happen. We have to get people to shop the way it used to be, people want that.” Visit their website http://www.schneidersjewelers.com

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Opens in the New Year

December 22nd, 2009

Mole-Mole Mexican Restaurant
23 Broadway

Mole-Mole represents an expansion of the mini-chain run by Cristobal Ortiz, who also owns two Mole-Moles in Poughkeepsie. Ortiz said he wanted to open in Rondout because “there’s a lot of business there.” He’s confident he will succeed in Kingston because “there’s always a market for good food.”

His reasonably priced Mexican cuisine, utilizing fresh ingredients and based on family recipes, has won a following. Hudson Valley Magazine cited Mole-Mole as “best cheap” in its “best of the Hudson Valley” edition last November; two years ago, the publication gave the restaurant an award for its tortilla soup. The complete menu is listed on the website, http://www.mole-mole.com. Besides the usual selection of tacos, nachos, chimichangas, quesadillas and enchiladas, the menu includes such specialties as spicy calamari, Mexican sandwiches, spicy shrimp in green tomatillo sauce and the restaurant’s namesake dish, a delicious chicken stew spiced with chocolate, plantains, cinnamon, chili, raisins, and nuts.

Ortiz, who is 34 years old and has two children, immigrated to the United States from the state of Oaxaca in 1999. His parents later joined him, and his mother helps with the business. He said his dishes are “what I would eat in Mexico. My dad told me how to make the mole.”

Mole-Mole will be opening on New Year’s eve day. Their hours are 10 am to 10 pm seven days a week.

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Express Latinos Debuts on Broadway

December 22nd, 2009

Located at 670 Broadway, in Midtown, Express Latinos opened in mid December in a beautifully traditional storefront, with newly painted moldings on the exterior and a high tin ceiling inside. Owner Guido Coraizaca, a native of Ecuador, is only 25 years old, and this is his first business. He said his motivation for opening the store was to provide “a friendly business” to the many Spanish people in the area. The coffee is free, and customers are also welcome to shoot pool at the spacious table in the back without charge. An attention-getter is the automated life-size Santa jiggling in the storefront window.

Express Latinos-1

Express Latinos offers a little of everything—Coraizaca said he wants to serve the many residents in the neighborhood who don’t have cars—including boxes of toy cars, dinosaurs, action figures, and dolls; dried beans, corn flour, mayonnaise, chips, cans of coconut juice, tortillas, bags of thyme and other spices; jeans, sweat shirts, and women’s tops; and Mary Kay cosmetics and watches. Nextel phone cards, belts and backpacks are displayed on the wall behind the counter. The prices are extremely reasonable with a soda costing 75 cents, men’s work jeans selling for $15, and a bag of dried chili peppers selling for $1.75. On the table next to the coffee urn is a pan of homemade tamales—there is a choice of spicy or sweet—for $1.50 each.

The store is open seven days a week, from 5 am to 10 pm. “My father says if you don’t work seven days a week when you’re young, in the future you’ll have to keep working, when you’re old,” he said.

Currently residing on Smith Street, Coraizaca, who is originally from Quito, lived six years in Corona, Queens. Compared to Queens, Kingston “is nice,” he said. “You’ve got space and can park a car here.” Plus, there’s plenty of opportunity. “If you use your brain, you can make money here. But you have to work hard,” he said.

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POPOROPO TOY STORE

December 11th, 2009

POPOROPO TOY STORE
35 Broadway
Kingston NY 12401
845.331.3005

Poporopo is a toy store where new and vintage-era toys collide to provide fun opportunities for the young and the young at heart.  As a child, my dream was to own a toy store.  When the opportinity offered itself to me, I worked diligently to provide my community an organized, spacious, and tranquil toy store. I sell some of the same toys that inspired me as a child. Poporopo Toy Store opened its doors to the residents of Kingston in July, 2008.
 
I BET YOU DIDN’T KNOW…
1. Poporopo means popcorn in my native Guatemala.
2. I have the largest selection of Hello Kitty merchandise in the area.
3. I offer collectible toys from tin-toys to star wars figures.
4. I sell wooden, green, and organic toys.
5. I hand sew my own line of plush dolls that I only sell at the store.
6. I sell plush dolls made by KHS students.
7. I have numerous educational toys.
8. I offer retro toys.
9. I sell toys for any age!
10. The store’s window display changes every major holiday. 

 Zeno Vanfretti, owner of Poporopo

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The 2010 Kingston Calendar

December 7th, 2009

Special Offer!!
Support the Arts Society of Kingston and show pride of our local city.

Photographs were selected from an open call and highlight some of our very talented local photographers, including: John Perz, Anita DeFina Hadley, Vic Nippert, Thomas Brannick, Phyllis McCabe, Elisa M. Shaw, Michael Citron, and Bonnie Fisher. Calendars may be purchased for $5.00 each, and are available throughout Kingston, including ASK, 97 Broadway, City Hall, 420 Broadway, and the Rondout Waterfront Area Visitors Center, 20 Broadway.

About ASK
The Arts Society of Kingston, a regional center for the arts, presents a diverse range of visual art exhibitions, performances, workshops, classes, and other arts-related programming for the benefit of artists, art-lovers, and the general community of the Hudson Valley. Through its initiatives, ASK provides opportunities, resources, and education for artists. In carrying out this mission, ASK enriches the quality of life, bridges cultural gaps, and increases awareness and appreciation of the arts. For more information, please visit ASKforArts.org.

I bet you didn’t know….

1. ASK has over 500 Members.
2. ASK is a mult-arts center with many performances and live music.
3. ASK was founded in 1995 by local artists in Kingston, NY.
4. To become a member, one need not be an artist or live in Kingston, but have just a sincere interest in the arts. We extend a warm invitation to any and all who would like to become a member.
5. ASK has hosted shows from Kingston City Schools student artists, as well as shows by Bard College, SUNY Ulster, SUNY New Paltz and Marist College student artists.
6. Renovations are still in progress on the second floor of the ASK Arts Center, which will eventually include a state-of-the-art, 99-seat performance venue.
7. ASK organizes an Open Studio Tour, the Kingston Sculpture Biennial, and usually two exhibits every month.
9. ASK produces “ASK for Arts,” a monthly gallery guide highlighting the current exhibitions in some thirty art venues in Kingston which has a digital google maps version here: www.askforarts.org/galleryguide/ <http://www.askforarts.org/galleryguide/>
10. ASK invites you to the next First Saturday opening reception, 5-8pm!

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Convert those home movies

December 7th, 2009

The Ellenbogen Group Inc.
721 Broadway, in the 721 Media Center
Midtown Kingston
845-331-5849

The family-owned Ellenbogen Group—Jeremy is the CEO, his father Henry is the president, and his mother Alice is the vice president—has earned a reputation as the place to get your old home movies, tape cassettes, video, reel-to-reel audio tapes and any other obsolete media converted to digital. Accredited by the Federal Government Library Restoration Service, the company has converted hundreds of tapes for Marist College and has been hired by the FDR Center in Hyde Park to convert Roosevelt’s 500 fireside chats as well as thousands of 16 mm films. It has even converted rare wire recordings— a type of recording that preceded reel-to-reel tapes and was done from the 1920s to the 1940s. “We get a lot of business over the Internet. People with money did home audio, and we have the original wire recording machines,” says Jeremy. The company also converts helical scan video tape, which predated VHS video cassettes and was widely used in schools. “It looks like a kinescope. People send their reels in from the late 1960s and early 1970s.”

The company traces its roots back to 1964, when Henry, a radio and TV engineer, started converting film to video. Today it has seven employees, including Ryan Rocap and Zoltan David in duplication and James Granell, who does the color correction, editing and conversion. The Ellenbogen Group also creates new content and produces it for multiple purposes (web, instructional video, DVD, and broadcast). For example, it created a video about the new birthing center at Health Alliance and recently pitched a TV show to the Bravo Network.

The Ellenbogens invested their own money into purchasing and renovating the old RNN building and creating the 721 Media center, which opened in 2006.  Besides launching the media incubator, they also display artwork in the building. “Our belief and our mission is to foster creativity in the media arts, to be inspirational,” says Jeremy.

I bet you didn’t know

1. The building was built in the 1950s as a Chevy dealership. (The ramps inside the building still exist.)
2. Ellenbogen is an old Kingston name. One branch of the family ran a popular variety store in the Rondout from the 1930s to the 1960s.
3. 721 Media Center started from the basement of Henry’s house in 1984.
4. The business then relocated to a building on St. James St. before moving to the former RNN Building, which at 30,000 square feet was six times bigger, in 2006.
5. The 721 Media Center currently houses 18 media businesses, with approximately 120 people working in the building. 
6. The company has so far transferred almost three million feet of film, including numerous home movies of different families vacationing at the Catskill Game Farm and North Lake. “We’ve probably done 400 families who’ve gone through the Catskill Game Farm,” says Jeremy.
7.  The 721 Media Center is home to the recording studio of rock band Mercury Rev, which is very popular in Europe and has garnered several gold records.
8. The center also hosts the monthly meetings of the Hudson Valley Center for Innovation, which is webcast.
9. It has perhaps the largest collection of artwork in Kingston, with more than 300 pieces displayed on the walls.
10. 721 Media Center was the first building in Midtown to have a roof garden, where many kinds of vegetables, vines, and trees were grown.

Discounts and special services: People working out of their home who want to use the media center occasionally to meet a client can become a member and rent a virtual room equipped with high quality printers, copy machines, and a fax and get discounts on other services in the building, such as film and audio editing, studio rentals, and equipment. The annual cost for individuals is $100, $300 for businesses. Members can also host events and attend monthly tech forums. “It’s a way for people to mix and learn,” says Jeremy.

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Boutique Wines/Madden’s

December 7th, 2009

Madden’s Fine Wines & Spirits
65 Broadway
Downtown Rondout
845-340-9463
Open 10-9, Sundays from 12-8 

Madden’s Fine Wines & Spirits occupies a quaint corner storefront on lower Broadway and carries wines from all over the world. “We’re not your norm,” says owner Cecilia Savona Madden. “We specialize in smaller vintners and also carry a full line of liquor. We’re very personal. It’s all about the customer, and my prices are very competitive with large liquor stores. We have some fine wines, but our average wine is probably $12.99 or $13.99.” Since opening in March 2008, business has been great and sales are up over 100 percent. Cecelia likes being in the diverse neighborhood of the Rondout. “People are from all ethnic and financial backgrounds. I want to accommodate everybody. This community is very close knit, and I want to see other businesses succeed. The area is starting to really move.” Cecilia concedes that “the Rondout is a tough nut to crack,” but she says there is a strong base of customers in the neighborhood. To succeed, business people need to consider the needs of the residents and also be consistent. “When I was going to open, people were like, ‘who will you sell to?’ People don’t realize what the Rondout is all about.”

Madden’s father and mother help her out, along with two part-time employees, Brian Tymom and Sandra Taylor. Her brother, Stephen Savona, owns Savona’s Trattoria, down the block, and other family members own Savona’s Plaza Pizza, located in Kingston Plaza and on Morton Blvd. in town of Ulster.

I bet you didn’t know

1. We host wine tastings—experience them for yourself!
2.  Cecilia and Brian are long-lost cousins.  We are not married!
3. Madden’s strongly believes in giving back to the community.
4. Madden’s Fine Wines & Spirits and Savona’s Trattoria are sister and brother.
5. Madden’s is the only wine and spirits shop in Kingston located in a historic brick-and-iron-facade building.
6. Brian lived in the Napa Valley.  He worked at the Artesa Winery under Don VonStaavern, who was voted #1 winemaker in the world in 2000.
7. Cecilia’s beverage of choice is a cool Mojito.
8. Brian’s beverage of choice is Champagne.
9. Sandra is our very own mixologist.
10. Madden’s is most thankful for the loyalty of its customers.

Discounts: On Wednesdays Madden’s is offering a 10 percent discount on wines and a 5 percent discount on liquor to Kingston business owners. Also, people over 60 qualify for  a 10 percent off wine and 5 percent off spirits.

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Funky Gifts/Bop to Tottom

December 7th, 2009

Bop to Tottom
299 Wall St.
Uptown Kingston
845-338-8100
Open 10-5:30 Monday-Saturday

Karen Adin opened this funkadelic, reasonably priced gift store 10 years ago in uptown Kingston. The hip selection of flap hats, fashion accessories, scarves, jewelry, candles, picture frames, novelties and notions, and kids’ toys has attracted a loyal base of customers, some of whom are weekenders from the city. Karen travels to the city once a week, visiting different stores and wholesale vendors to see what is popular and trendy. “I stock the latest and the greatest, and we do not mark items up here as much as other retailers do,” she says. “Keeping it affordable is key.” Two part-time employees, Mary Ellen and Jeanne Lange, who are sisters-in-law, help Karen out, and she is a strong community supporter. “We donate to almost any request, provided it’s local,” says Karen, who moved to the area from Boston 26 years ago. Karen likes the diversity of living and doing business in the city. “I chose uptown Kingston because it could be a beautiful neighborhood,” she says. 

I bet you didn’t know

1. Jimi Hendrix shopped here when the space was a music store. George Kennedy shot pool in the pool hall that used to occupy the top floor of the building.
2. The building is on the National Registrar of Historic Places.
3. Customers come from as far away as Albany and Westchester.
4. Bob to Tottom is located at the crossroads of Uptown Kingston.
5. Among the numerous actors and actresses who’ve visited over the years are Melissa Leo and John Hurd.
6. Karen has been in the wholesale retail industry for 26 years.
7. The store have so many brochures and maps “we’re known as the information center of Kingston.”
8. People ask us everything from where to eat lunch to a recommendation for an attorney.
9. Much of the jewelry, hats, and artwork sold in the store are made locally.
10. Nobody gets the name right and nobody forgets it.

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