County Can Has a Nickel for You

April 26th, 2011

James V. LaVolpe, owner/president of County Can & Bottle Return Center, ran a used car dealership at 80 Smith Avenue, but a health problem and subsequent embezzlement by a business associate ended the business last year. Wanting to find an alternative use for the building—which LaVolpe, a native of Queens, had renovated after leaving New York and establishing himself in Kingston—and having a little over $50,000 to invest, LaVolpe came up with the idea of opening a bottle and can redemption center, in which customers get paid the full nickel for every redeemable bottle or can they bring in.

The center opened in October, and since then the business has taken off, processing more than a quarter million cans and bottles so far.  One advantage is that “people don’t have to go from store to store” to receive their nickel, noted LaVolpe. His clientele is a total mixed bag, ranging from “people who just walk along the street and pick up cans” to lawyers, store and restaurant owners, and scouting groups doing fund drives to raise money. Just this past week, the Boy Scouts brought in $500 worth of redeemables, said LaVolpe.

One nice feature of the center is the drop-off service, in which a client in a hurry can drop off a bag of cans, write down his or name on a sheet of paper, and pick up the money on the return trip after work.

The bottles and cans are picked up 12 times a week and delivered to a central facility in Albany. (LaVolpe said that return centers north of Albany have the advantage of getting their items picked up by the company that has the facility, whereas he has to deal with a middleman for the deliveries.) So how does County Can make money? LaVolpe said the manufacturers pay handling fees, which constitute the business’s revenue. He also doesn’t have to waste time worrying about prettying up the cans for delivery: dented items are just fine.

Zach Cole & David Roberts

County Can & Bottle Return Center has seven employees. LaVolpe said he plans to hire a couple of ARC people, who will help sort the items. The new employees, who will first be trained by special coaches, will be starting in a couple of weeks and will get a regular paycheck. “I like to give back to the community,” LaVolpe said, explaining what motivated him to connect with ARC.

When people on occasion drop off nonredeemable cans or bottles—which the center does not accept—he’ll put them out on the curb for recycling, rather than throw them out. A pretty decent place, that County Can. The center is open Monday through Friday from 9 to 5:30 and on Saturday from 9 to 3:30. Call 340-1005 for more information.

–Lynn Woods

Posted in Business | No Comments »

Businesses and Architecture Find a Happy Balance at the Millard Building

April 18th, 2011

Built in 1899 and operated as a Chevrolet showroom in the 1920s, the Millard Building is a Midtown gem with its Beaux-Art limestone façade and large windows. Set at an angle to Broadway, it is fronted by a small park, interrupting the straight ranks of buildings with a burst of green that offers rest to pedestrians.

The current owners, five partners based in Newburgh, have done a complete gut rehab, including new plumbing, electric, insulation, and re-fabricated storefronts, since acquiring the building five years ago. Their efforts landed them an award from Friends of Historic Kingston in 2008, and despite a very difficult economy, the building operates in the black, with all but one of the row of shops running along Grand Street occupied by commercial tenants; Planned Parenthood is about to move into a 4,500-square-foot space on the second floor.

Thanks to his involvement in the Millard Building, part-owner Joe Flynn, owner, with several of his partners, of Commercial Industrial Construction Corp., has gotten into the retail business. When the restaurant supply business located on the ground floor went out of business, he and his wife, Jayme, bought up the inventory at auction and reopened the store as the Culinary Warehouse three years ago. Because the front of the building is now occupied by the pizzeria and the Kingston Pharmacy, the store is now located at the back of the building; some former customers don’t realize all they have to do is walk down Grand to browse once again the great kitchenware.

Compared to the old store, a greater portion of the business is retail, with the remaining  60 to 70 percent derived from restaurants. The store stocks everything a restaurateur or serious home cook needs, from gadgets to cookware to silverware to stoves and convection ovens. Flynn said in late spring the store plans to restart its program of  cooking classes (suspended over the winter), which take place in a small kitchen on the premises and are held on Wednesday evenings. A children’s cooking class will be offered, and chefs from local restaurants will be invited to prepare their specialties. Check Culinary Warehouse’s Facebook page for updates.

The Millard Building’s other tenants represent a nice mix of businesses and include Sensational Nails Hair Salon and Hometown Beverages, a distributor of beer and soda, both along Grand Street. One 1,400-square-foot storefront is available, along with 12,000 square feet on the second floor. Flynn said CICC plans to break up the space into 15 smaller offices, unless a large tenant suddenly appears. The second floor also has four well-lit lofts, three of which are occupied. A major advantage is that there’s a large, adjacent parking lot, also owned by CICC, along with several parking spaces in front.

“We’re very lucky. We have very good tenants and are holding our own,” said Flynn. He is appreciative of the city’s support, from the mayor to the building and fire departments. “Everyone’s been wonderful. Kingston is a great place and we enjoy being here.”

Posted in Business, Corridor, Kingston’s One of a Kind Finds, Shop Local | No Comments »

Two Generations of LaLimas Span the Old and the New

April 12th, 2011

LaLima’s Barber Shop, founded by Joseph LaLima in 1968, has been located at 680 Broadway since 1974, across from the Sunoco station. The $9 hair cuts and $8 shaves—a microwave oven has been reconfigured as a “UV towel warmer”—glass case stocked with boxes of hair gel, and two barber chairs reside in a narrow, linoleum-floored space resplendent with personal mementoes: framed Marine Corps. certificates, antique barber paraphernalia, a Harley Davidson sign, a postcard of Kingston’s old post office, and several paintings by Joseph’s son, Joseph Jr., including a large, black-and-white portrait of  local boxer Billy Costello, gloves at the ready. One has entered not just a store, but a psychic space, redolent of old Kingston. It’s hardly a surprise to discover that the mustached customer who is having his neck powdered is a county legislator, his presence confirming LaLima’s assertion that it is his steady clientele, loyal over four decades, that have kept him in business all these years.

As someone who’s been located on Broadway for a very long time, LaLima, who owns his building and rents out an apartment upstairs, has a valuable perspective. He said the city’s first priority should be attracting businesses, to fill the vacant storefronts. He also had some good news: the building next door has been bought and the empty ground floor is about to reopen as an art studio.

LaLima said that despite the out-of-control school taxes, rising Central Hudson bills and costs of opening a business, Kingston is still relatively affordable. Having traveled across country on his Harley—a framed picture on the wall shows him riding his bike in the wide-open spaces out West, his hair blowing in the wind—LaLima said he’s always glad to come to back to his home town. He was born in Kingston, raised in a house on Greenkill Avenue, and attended St. Joseph’s; his father, who was born in Italy, arrived in Kingston as a baby and worked on the railroad.

LaLima had an uncle who was a barber and decided to one become himself. He enjoys being his own boss, and no matter how bad the economy gets, people always need a haircut. His prescription for improving the city? A Giulani-style clean up of Midtown. Midtown, he said, “is forgotten…it’s on the back burner.”

Meanwhile, Joseph Jr. and his girlfriend, Liz Baker, are opening a combination art gallery-café-clothing boutique in the expansive, handsome corner storefront at 63 Broadway next month. After graduating from Pratt Institute in 1995, Joseph returned to Kingston and did a variety of jobs, including creating special effects for the World Wrestling Federation, which required him to travel. The store will be called Aesthetics, and it will sell vintage and new clothing, jewelry (including hand-crafted pieces by Joseph’s friend Nicole Pagano), and baked goods provided by the family (specifically, Joseph’s mother, who is a partner) and local eateries.

Paintings by Michael Hart

The May show will feature paintings by Joseph and Mike Hart. Joseph said he plans to  show overlooked local artists and hopes to eventually offer classes for kids, as well as sponsor mural projects in Midtown.

It’ll be a real family business, involving the couple’s children, nieces and nephews, as well as Joseph’s mother Susan. “We’ll have lots of help,” said Liz. They plan to be open by the first Saturday in May, so that they can participate in the city’s weekly gallery walk.  –Lynn Woods

Posted in Arts, Business, Corridor | No Comments »

Kingston’s Green (Quarter) Acres, off South Pine

April 5th, 2011

One doesn’t associate Midtown with farms, but now a piece of land not far from the railroad tracks is seriously going under the spade. The Kingston Land Trust is ramping up its community gardens initiative by launching the city’s first urban farm, in partnership with The Queens Galley. Called the South Pine Street City Farm, it’s located on a quarter acre of land owned and donated by Binnewater Ice Company. Farmer Jesica Clark said the farm will supply a portion of its harvest to The Queens Galley and to two restaurants the QG is planning to open at the Kirkland, in partnership with RUPCO and Family of Woodstock. Clark hopes to sell the remainder of the harvest at a farmers’ market.

Clark, who grew up in New York City and was a precocious foodie—“I was one of those strange kids who loved eating spinach and broccoli”—has been farming since 2003, a year after she graduated from Vassar College. Most recently she was managing Phillies Bridge Farm, in New Paltz, a non-profit organization that runs a farm camp and also a CSA. After moving to Kingston a couple of years ago to be with her husband, Clark wanted to farm closer to home. She got involved with the Victory Garden project at City Hall, where she met KLT president Rebecca Martin, and through Martin learned about the Binnewater property.

As a customer, Martin was aware of the vacant lot adjacent to  Binnewater Ice Company’s building and had talked with owner Diane Davenport about planting a community garden there. Davenport was enthusiastic: “I thought it would be nice to have something on the property that the community could share in,” she said. (The company, which has seven employees, resells ice and water from a spring in Kiamesha, Sullivan County; it was founded in 1910 and original sold ice cut from Williams Lake, one of the Binnewaters.)

The garden became a reality last year, with some vegetables donated to The Queens Galley. Turning it into a farm means the land will be cultivated more efficiently and with a bit more organization. Clark will combine the separate plots into one entity, farmed collectively. So far, $7,000 has been raised for the project from grants and in-kind donations. Two thousand dollars’ worth of soil has been trucked in. A Learn and Save America grant, coordinated through Steve and Julie Noble, the city’s environmental and environmental educational managers, paid for the tool shed, according to Clark.

In the last few weeks, Clark has been shuttling back and forth to New Paltz, where she’s cultivating seedlings for the farm housed in Phillies Bridges’ heated greenhouses. The first season, she plans to grow cucumbers, haricots, summer squashes, heirloom eggplants and less common herbs, such as anise, hyssop, and orange thyme, along with tomatoes and basil.

Using contacts from The Queens Galley, she’s brought in various school groups and aims to involve people from the community as much as possible. This Saturday, April 9, the South Pine Street Farm will be holding its second work party, which will be finishing up the beds and planting seeds. An arbor might also be established, under direction from resident carpenter Jay Freedman. Clark advises volunteers to bring gloves and dress in layers. The rain date is Sunday, April 10. The farm is located at 27 South Pine Street.

“We’d love to see food and agriculture be a really significant part of Kingston’s culture, as it once was,” said Clark, noting the success of the KLT in galvanizing many residents to plant vegetable gardens. About her own Midtown spot, she notes that “there’s lots of sun, it’s quiet, and the neighbors are very supportive. I’m very happy to be there.”

Tags: , ,
Posted in Community | 1 Comment »