Saratoga thoughts

A few unrelated news items on a wintry morning:

• A friend of mine snapped this picture of Adirondack Trust Co. building on Broadway during the holidays.  That's a beautiful shot of a longtime great corporate citizen's flagship building. 

 

• Out with the old (Congressman) and in with the new one.  I was walking down Broadway the other day coming back from The Cupcake Lab and I noticed Representative Chris Gibson's new office next to the Roohan Realty Building. Then of course a little further down I noticed the recently vacated office of former Congressman Scott Murphy.

 

 

 

• On that same walk, I noticed tailor Vincenzo Montesano has moved his La Sartoria clothing store into the new digs at 489 Broadway, which I will now call the "Tattoos and Tuxedoes" building.

 

• The other side of Broadway has some prominent storefront locations that are empty.  Besides the former location of La Sartoria, the two bookend locations of that side of Broadway, at the corner of Spring Street as well as the corner of Ellsworth Jones Place (near the City Center), are empty. Likewise the former Saratoga Guitar Shop location at the corner of Caroline Street is also empty.   We still have a vibrant downtown, but let's hope these empty spaces all fill up soon. 
• Did you get to Five Below in Wilton during the Christmas shopping season? It's this really awesome store with high quality items that you definitely need.   It's basically a glorified dollar store with crap you don't need (ahhh consumerism), but it's crap you don't need at low prices (one to five dollars - hence the name),  so it might be worth an occasional visit if you're close by at Best Buy or Bed, Bath & Beyond. 

 

• I took a quick look into the somewhat new laundromat downtown on Phila Street.  Man it's tiny - and cave-like.  Not cavernous, mind you, but cave-like as in very little natural light and confining.  It was empty when I went there and the lack of windows and resulting inability to view most of the inside from the street may make female customers feel vulnerable to a predator.  I want every Saratoga business to succeed so I hope my concerns are exclusive to me and that the place does well. It is called Sara and Rob's laundromat and it is owned by building owner Steve Chindamo.  Mareesa Nicosia's In the Biz Saratogian blog had more details about the place in an entry she wrote just under a year ago.
• OK, he is grouchy at best and sometimes downright cruel, but I miss opinions and updates from "Horatio Alger" of the I-Saratoga blog.  He hasn't posted an entry in eight months. 
• I went to purchase a dozen roses from the Posie Peddler a while back and I was told that they would cost me $60.00.   I thought that was high considering I wasn't asking for delivery, so I checked out Price Chopper and was told that twelve of the thorny stemmed flowers would set me back $20 bucks.  OK, I'm a fan of avoiding category killer stores and supporting locally owned businesses - but not when it will cost me triple the amount.  Sure, The Posie Peddler would probably give me a better effort and therefore a better product but, again, nothing approaching triple value.  Finally, Price Chopper is a Capital Region business and I subsequently saw a truck from a local flower wholesaler in their Ballston Avenue store parking lot - telling me that a local small business was benefiting from my patronage.   I would prefer to go to the small business owned by a local person, but it's a two-way street and there has to still be value for the consumer. 
• Speaking of Congress Plaza establishments, I found out the hard way that Purdy's Wine and Liquor was cheaper, at least for the one product I was buying, than Crush and Cask on South Broadway.  I bought a bottle of whipped cream vodka from Crush and Cask over the holidays and it cost me $17.99, then I bought another bottle of it, same brand and size, at Purdy's and it was just $13.99.   Granted it's only one product, but Crush and Cask's price is 28% more than Purdy's. 
• I'll leave you with this thought - I was in Mrs. London's earlier this week and I realized I forgot how great that place is.  I'll post some pictures of the inside below.  We are fortunate to have some great local places with great baked indulgences - and a partial list in addition to Mrs. London's includes The Putnam Street Market, Bettie's Cupcakes, The Bread Basket Bakery, and of course The Cupcake Lab/Isabel's Bistro (with great comfort food to boot).  No one else has what Saratoga Springs has, and our little bakery/dessert places are just one of the many attributes that make our city great.