Local Fitness Facilities Come Together To Speak Out Against Phase 4 Mandate

Editor’s Note: Marilyn Perez is a Yoga Instructor at Firefly Yoga in Fishkill, NY

Pictured: The Studio @ Beacon, Beacon Pilates, Firefly Yoga

Two weeks ago, local fitness studios and gyms in our region were preparing their businesses, staff, and its members to reopen Tuesday, July 7th as we enter Phase 4. Five New York regions - Central New York, Finger Lakes, Mohawk Valley, North Country, and Southern Tier, entered Phase 4 on Friday, June 26th. As first reported by Times Union, a conference call was held with local leaders that Tuesday afternoon with New York's budget leader, Robert F. Mujica Jr. where he informed them that gyms, fitness centers, malls, shopping centers and movie theaters were no longer a part of Phase 4’s reopening plan - three days before those regions were set to reopen.

What Does Phase 4 Look Like Now?

As the mid-Hudson region enters Phase 4 today, Phase 4 now allows low-risk indoor and outdoor arts and entertainment, film and TV production, higher education and professional sports without fans. Phase 4 also includes groups of up to 50 can gather in Phase 4 and places of worship can allow up to 33 percent capacity, up from 25 percent, although a Federal Judge ruled on Friday that New York cannot limit religious gathering attendance if BLM protests are still allowed.

This change in the policy left many health & fitness business owners in our area feeling like the rug was pulled underneath them. Businesses were working with the state’s NY Forward website for Sports and Recreation guidelines to establish what their new protocols were going to be like. The sudden change seemed abrupt and did not provide additional information on what these businesses can expect next. Will there be a Phase 5? Will there be a change in the Sports and Recreation guidelines?

Petitions, Speaking Out, and Taking Action

County Executive Marc Molinaro and Senator Sue Serino have spoken out against the change, agreeing that it left businesses feeling blindsided. Serino has stated “I stand in support of the countless Hudson Valley employers and employees who are on the brink of financial ruin in calling on the state to allow these businesses to reopen as planned…when asked to step up and stay home, New Yorkers kept their promise. Now, it’s far past time for the state to keep its own promise by allowing these businesses to safely open as originally scheduled.”

Molinaro shared in a Facebook comment “I don’t think it’s unfair to expect the data and science associated with a decision that was unexpected and exactly contrary to what they had been advising even the day before - especially when it contradicts the “science” of opening higher risk businesses… I respect everyone is concerned and frustrated - regardless of viewpoint. Our job is to attempt to navigate it all for those we serve.”

Serino created a petition urging the state to allow these businesses to open as originally scheduled. This petition is in addition to the several petitions created on Change.org requesting New York to reopen its gyms. All citing how these facilities serve as a necessity for people dealing with physical conditions, mental illness, depression, anxiety, addiction, trauma, stress, loss of energy and more.

Separating Fitness Boutiques From Gyms

Smaller, specialized studios that cater to specific workouts like Pilates, Crossfit, Spin, and Yoga are better equipped to control attendance than most businesses. Larger gyms have general open hours and equipment for members to enter throughout the day. Smaller studios are based on scheduled classes, session times, and usually limited to one room. Limiting amount of clients, enforcing face masks, pre-registration, and wellness check-ins are just a few of the many new regulations that will be enforced.

Since March, gyms have had to freeze or cancel memberships altogether while landlords continued to charge full rent for a space that is not being used. Two local yoga studios have closed their doors - Namastesis in Fishkill and Pavonnine Yoga in Beacon. While gyms are doing what they can to keep members engaged with Zoom and outdoor classes, membership numbers are not what they were. The only way to keep afloat is to get people through the door, even with restrictions. Facilities like All Sport Health & Fitness, Firefly Yoga, The Studio @ Beacon, and Orca Empire Fitness have shared on their social media and/or newsletters what they are doing to adhere to CDC guidelines.

What’s Next?

In light of this, the New York State Fitness Alliance was created for owners of Gyms, Studios, and Fitness centers of all types and sizes throughout the State to come together for the purposes of developing a plan to safely reopen. New York State Fitness Alliance (NYSFA) worked together with fitness centers and studio owners to create a plan to reopen safely. This plan has been presented to the Governor’s office, Regional Control room officials, State Legislators and County Executive’s.

iHRSA, a global community of health and fitness professionals committed to the growth, protection, and promotion of the health and fitness industry - has been in talks with members of Governor Cuomo's reopening team and has provided additional data supporting the ability of clubs to operate safely in the new COVID environment. They also cite research from this study that has shown “low possibility of coronavirus transmission in fitness facilities implementing social distancing and other safety measures.”

During his daily briefings, Governor Cuomo has expressed concern over the air quality in indoor spaces and have called out shopping malls specifically to incorporate air filtration systems that can filter out the COVID-19 virus. “There are HEPA filters, which are high-efficiency particle air filters, that can actually filter out the COVID virus,” Cuomo said on Monday during a COVID-19 briefing. "The COVID virus is .1 microns. There are HEPA filters that can filter out .01." In the meantime, essential businesses have been open, and businesses have been reopening throughout Phases 1-3. This leaves smaller studios questioning if this also applies to them? They’re still waiting for answers and guidance.

Flooding From Upstairs Apartments Closes Main Street Businesses. WhatInsurance Covers That?

In the last two years, a few of your favorite businesses on Main Street have temporarily closed due to damage caused from flooding from residential apartments above them. Mountain Tops was one when their inventory got wiped out last summer, and Style Storehouse (pictured here) was almost another, but fortunately the owner Michele was in the store that day and could move her racks of clothing as the drips came from the ceiling.

Accidents happen, bath tubs are left on, sinks are left on, or maybe a pipe bursts. If this happens in your home, water that floods from your bathroom by leaving the shower curtain out of the tub, or by very wet children getting out of a full bathtub, may drip into the room below and possibly ruin nothing (or your floors), and perhaps only cause an inconvenient cleanup. But watch out for that invariably soggy ceiling that will need replaced. For a business located below a residential apartment, water can damage inventory, kitchen equipment, flooring that the business owner installed, and more financially devastating examples. When this happens, who pays for the damage? Who is responsible?

Pat Moore, partner at the local insurance agency on Main Street in Beacon,

Antalek and Moore

, provides insight: "Water damage insurance claims can be very expensive, but can also be in a 'gray area' of insurance coverage.  Even the most comprehensive of insurance policies do not eliminate the coverage 'gray area'."

What is the gray area? In Pat's words: "One requirement of all insurance coverages is that the damage needs to be caused by something that is sudden and accidental.  For example, a deep freeze in the winter causes pipes to freeze and ultimately burst causing water damage.  The act of freezing is generally considered to be sudden and accidental and most comprehensive insurance policies the business owner has will cover these damages."

So what about an apartment dweller who starts to fill the bathtub with water, gets distracted or forgets? The water overflows and now the business owner on the first floor has a small lake in their place of business.  Says Pat: "This is certainly a gray area.  Some insurance carriers may just decline to cover these kinds of incidents due to the lack of a sudden and accidental event.  Others may decide to cover the damage with the hopes of making a recovery from the apartment dweller.  If the apartment dweller has no homeowners insurance, this is not an attractive option to an insurance carrier.  Some carriers may just cover the claim outright.  How an insurance company will react is unpredictable."

Pat and the entire staff at

Antalek and Moore work with a number of insurance carriers

to find their clients the best coverage for competitive prices, and they have seen it all. Says Pat, as he recalls examples that have defined his years of experience in the insurance business: "It is important to understand what happened in this case.  Unfortunately, the business owner sustained damage because the apartment owner was negligent.  The relevant insurance policy for this case is the liability part of the apartment owner’s homeowners insurance."

When and if you ever lived in an apartment, did you carry

renter's

or

homeowner's insurance

? Chances are low that you did because no one required you to, as you are required by a mortgage company to carry homeowner's insurance when you own a home financed through a bank.

Which brings Pat to an issue he is passionate about: "When a business owner seeks to occupy a commercial space, most landlords require the business to secure a

liability insurance policy

and to provide the landlord with written proof that insurance is in place.  This is a common practice.  A less common practice is the landlord making the same requirement of apartment dwellers.  The cost for this coverage for an apartment dweller is typically $150 per year or less.  Having an apartment dweller on the floors above who has an insurance policy in force should be a must have for any street level business.

"What does this do? In the case of the overflowing bathtub, the business can make a claim against the apartment dweller and his or her insurance policy.  It mitigates the gray area." Also, a landlord might file a claim for the damage, and that may or may not be paid out by the insurance company. Further, says Pat, "The claim could be denied by the landlord's insurance carrier and will almost certainly not cover the damage to the business owner's property."

Consider this flipped way of thinking before you sign the lease on your commercial space. Chicken Little ran around warning his friends that the sky was falling, and while your inventory is inside and locked behind freshly installed locks and protected by a security system, the sky - and a lot of ceiling plaster - just may fall on and ruin all that is important to you and pays the bills for your family. If you are a person renting from an apartment above a business, consider getting

renter's insurance f

or several reasons, accidents like this being one of them.

Antalek and Moore

is a sponsor of A Little Beacon Blog, and this article was created with them as part of our

Sponsor Spotlight

program. It is with the support of businesses like this, that A Little Beacon Blog can bring you coverage of local happenings and events. Thank you for supporting businesses who support us! If you would like to become a

Sponsor or Community Partner

, please

click here for more information

.

Nixie Sparrow Flies Out of the Coop - Outgrowing Space

When the Nixie Sparrows, Megan Lawrence and Sarah Beinstein, flew into the Telephone Building on Beacon's Main Street across from Key Food to set up shop as a creative workshop/make/drink/learn space, they awoke or made stronger everyone's creative spirits and yearnings to make something beautiful. Their office reminded me of one of the first Etsy Labs that I toured with a friend for my very first blog.

Photo credit: Nixie Sparrow

What started out as workshops for groups of people quickly expanded into private DIY parties for locals whose friends were coming into town for a visit, or for bridal showers or corporate events. Intriguing pictures of what tools they would be using in a workshop had many glued to the Nixie Sparrow Instagram stream.

Photo credit: Nixie Sparrow

That's about the time big signage started showing up more and more in their stream. There were hand-painted signs in beautiful fonts with floral detail, and trips down to Charleston and other cities to design and transform spaces for weddings.

Photo credit: Nixie Sparrow

And then the house-flipping started. The Nixies, as they are known around town, could not be contained in their 510-square-foot office. They "came in like tornadoes," said their landlord, Deborah Bigelow, restoration artist for Gilded Twig and restorer of the Telephone Building (which has been home to Nixie Sparrow, Beahive, and several other creative businesses). Meg and Sarah bought a fixer-upper house on the West end of town and began renovations, never having renovated a house before.

Photo credit: Nixie Sparrow

Next thing they knew, the DIY Network found them. Meg and Sarah had been posting a few house-flipping pictures to their Instagram, and the show "First Time Flippers" found them. The network proposed that the girls do an episode of live-flipping. They agreed, and months of new work began. You can catch the episode replay on one of these upcoming dates!

Photo credit: Nixie Sparrow

ON THE BLOG: Nixie recently began the Ultimate DIY - House Flipping! Check the blog for some "before" photos and follow us as we flip this beauty of a Hudson Valley home! www.nixiesparrow.com/blog

A photo posted by @nixiesparrow on Jun 1, 2015 at 6:30am PDT

Which brings us to the present day, when the Nixie Sparrows announced that they were moving out of the workshop space in order to pursue the calling of where their business was taking them: event decor and styling. Several attended their going-away party, including myself. Before they left, we interviewed them to learn more about what they are pursuing next.

ALBB: What types of projects could you not do in this space that you wanted to do more of?
NS: Over the past year or so, we have had a lot of individuals coming to us for decor help with their weddings and events. It is something we really enjoy and didn't want to turn down so our business began to take a different route than planned. We started accumulating all sorts of materials and staging pieces in addition to our workshop supplies.

So with both decor styling and workshops taking place, there were many projects we couldn't handle. We didn't have running water in our space, which made it difficult to wash paintbrushes or use chemicals that required water (etching solutions, etc.) and we couldn't store a lot of our larger pieces, stain wood, spray paint or use any products that were strong in odor (casting resins, strong glues, etc.).


ALBB: Where have you been traveling to for projects?
NS: We need better ventilation or spaces where we can easily step outside to paint and get a little 'dirty.' We would end up doing a lot of our projects at home in the backyard, where we could spread out and really store our pieces.


ALBB: Are there more house flips in your future?
NS: As for future house flips, we aren't searching for them, but if an opportunity presents itself you never know! We do love to transform spaces, so working with design and esthetic within a home is more favored by us.


ALBB: What was both of your favorite parts about the flip?
NS: Meg's favorite part about the flip was learning the process, being that it was her first flip; forming contacts and relationships with subcontractors and learning everything first-hand.

I (Sarah) really enjoyed helping pick out paint colors and design elements. If Meg hit a road block in terms of picking out particular colors, tiles, etc., I would try and help narrow options. Picking a palette or theme when there are so many decisions to make helps get the job done.

* * *

I know I speak for everyone in saying that we look forward to seeing where the Nixie Sparrows fly next, and several of you may already have hired or in the future hire them to get their special look in your home or for your project or event. Congratulations!

Photo credit: Nixie Sparrow

Join the Hudson Valley Women in Business Group for Their First Event: Turning Passion Into Profit Featuring Sarah Womer of Zero to Go - March 16th 2016

When I first moved to Beacon from the Upper Upper West Side of Manhattan, I was leaving a network of people who I could zip down and see anywhere, anytime via the subway. New to the local community, the experience was totally different and I spent a lot of time (and still do) talking to shop owners, as that was and is my comfort zone - talking shop.

While I work mainly in the digital space, behind the scenes of websites and social media accounts, playing with people in Beacon and the Hudson Valley has been so incredibly fun and inspiriting because of all of the different things that they do. What I am very grateful for are groups that have been emerging that give people like myself a place to go and learn and grow with others who are experiencing similar growths and challenges when growing a business.

One such group is called the Hudson Valley Women in Business (HVWiB) Group that is currently digitally based on Facebook and has monthly meetups, created by Lauree Ostrofsky, who is first known as Chief Hugger at her consulting company Simply Leap. New for the group is their first ever official event called "Quarterly Conversations" on March 16, 2016, where a successful business owner is interviewed in front of a group, and a learning session is held for attendees after the talk to turn the tables and apply what was learned to their own business lives.

This first Quarterly Conversation is with Sarah Womer, founder of Zero to Go, who was recently featured by Hudson Valley Magazine as a Person to Watch in 2016, and was interviewed during a Tin Shingle TuneUp as to how she crowdfunded $20,000 to start her food composting project for Beacon. During this Quarterly Conversation, Lauree is going to dig into Sarah's story to figure out how she makes her business work, the sweat she puts in, and how she gathered a team to make her dream come true.

Tickets are limited and can be bought online right here. Reserve your spot now! The Quarterly Conversation will be held at BEAHIVE, a collaborative work space and community on Main Street in Beacon. To learn more about the event overall, click here.

Special thanks for HVWiB Partners:
Simply Leap
BEAHIVE
Tin Shingle, LLC
A Little Beacon Blog
Zero to Go
Leigh Baumann Design

Live Interview with Zero to Go Founder Sarah Womer on Her Successful Crowdfunding Campaign (Sponsor)

Remember back in March of 2015 when your favorite education-based waste management company, Zero to Go, launched a crowdfunding campaign via Kickstarter to raise $20,000 for their bike-powered food compost pickup project? Well, it was a huge success, and Zero to Go founder and Beacon resident Sarah Womer met her goal of $20,000 from 248 backers in just 18 days. We covered the food waste project here at A Little Beacon Blog, and made a food waste sundae to celebrate.

This Wednesday, February 10, 2016 at 12 noon EST, Tin Shingle will interview Sarah during their Live Training Webinar TuneUp series to learn about how she did it, from her social media efforts to how she made her campaign video to one of the most critical aspects of a crowdfunding campaign: community support. This live webinar is free for anyone with a phone or computer to call or click into. If you have thought about starting a crowdfunding campaign, you will want to listen to this interview with Sarah to get inside of her head and learn from her experience. Click here to get the registration information.

The free registration link is here:
https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/5824891914585570305

Tin Shingle is a community-based training resource for small businesses using today's trends in getting the word out about their business using methods in PR, social media, SEO, newsletters, web design, and more. Sign up for their free newsletter to stay in the loop about best practices and great ideas you can use today in these areas. Listen to any of their classes, which are free to those with Tin Shingle memberships. Learn about a budget-friendly, buzz-building membership today.

PS: If you are reading this article after 2/10/16, you can find the recording of this webinar at www.tinshingle.com/classes.

Tin Shingle is a sponsor of A Little Beacon Blog, and we thank you for supporting businesses that make this publication possible! Fun fact: Tin Shingle is co-run by A Little Beacon Blog's publisher, Katie, who is obsessed with small businesses.

Several Beacon Businesses Celebrate Long Time Anniversaries

Starting a business is easy. If you can make it past your dream stage. Sustaining and growing a business is no joke and takes a serious amount of motivation, stamina, deftness to change with the direction of the wind, and passion for what you do. In the past week, at least three businesses in Beacon are celebrating milestone anniversaries. Sometimes a local business that you walk or drive by becomes a fixture on the street. You may never have walked in it before, but it's always there. These businesses are like that, and over the years have earned their place as a reliable fixture in Beacon's streets. Here are their stories:

Beacon Dental on Wolcott celebrates 10 years in business.

Did you know that Dr. Hongli Wang opened Beacon Dental when her son was five? While her son was even younger, she was learning English and earning her second dental degree at NYU, after moving here from Beijing, China and leaving her first dental career behind. I attended their 10th Year Anniversary party with my own 5 year old on my hip who insisted on being carried. Any parent of a young child knows how stretched you are as a parent, not to mention as a young business owner. Beacon Dental opened in Loomis Plaza on Wolcott back when it was a rough area. Thanks to Dr. Wang's gutting her office space to build it as she envisioned it, she contributed to the ongoing improvements of that area along with other businesses who have renovated the shop spaces. Loomis Plaza is a nice extension to quick and easy access to services you need in Beacon.

Beacon D'Lites celebrates 10 years on Main Street.

Beacon D'Lights started as a home-based business in founder Donna Trappe's home where she hand poured soy candles. After three years, she outgrew the space and opened up the shop on Main Street we all know today. She attributes her early success to the support of her friends and social base. Add to that the recent tourism boom to Beacon, and the candle store is doing very well.

Blackbird Attic celebrates 5 years and counting in Beacon.

Speaking of social, Michelle Caves opened Blackbird Attic five years ago at a time when there was a shift in how many antique shops and quiet vintage stores were surviving in Beacon. Today there are several antique and vintage shops that have since closed or moved, but there are also several new vintage boutiques, plus flea markets, to compete for our fashion delights. Great for us shoppers! But it requires Blackbird Attic to stay sharp on her game. She is an early bird getting worms and always has fresh ideas about how to feature the shop in social media (her Instagram feed is how I learned of the celebration), and the styles she sells.

Congrats to these three businesses, and the rest of you who are making it happen too! And I know I speak for all businesses when I say thanks for shopping nearby, because buying local improves quality of life for us all.

Barb's Butchery - The Back Story of the Farm Fresh Butcher Who Sold You a Rump

Barb, founder of Barb's Butchery.

Barb is a math nerd whose thoughts crystallize into Ven diagrams. She is also your freshest local butcher, who sees meat as "a giant puzzle". The puzzle for Barb isn't just how the steer fits together or comes apart, it's how people want to buy it,  when they want to buy it, and how much they want to pay for it. But she hasn't always had visions of poultry and pork. In fact, Barb was a math teacher before she decided to learn how to become a butcher and open Beacon's first butchery in December 2014, Barb's Butchery at 69 Spring Street. Well, Beacon's first butchery during these times. Perhaps twenty years ago there was a butcher, but for those living here now, word on the street was that Beacon needed a butcher.

NOT JUST ANY BUTCHER
People are wanting a butcher who can cut local meat that is heavily researched and approved of by a person they trust. They want to know that the chickens are actually running around a farm like one hopes they would, not the horror stories from links that go viral with disturbing pictures. Farms Barb sources from include include Fazzios for chicken, Meiller Farms for beef, pork and lamb, and Dashing Star Farms for lamb. And if you don't feel like cooking your own, Barb's Butchery is a supplier to Poppy's for burgers, and Dogwood for the burgers, lamb, sausages and "pub grub", and Quinn's for pork and sometimes pork bellies. Barb's Butchery has also started serving lunch and dinner - albeit in limited hours. Dinner is from 5pm - 7:30pm so you better get there quick so as not to miss the hand cut and fries and beer battered onion rings.

THE KID CONNECTION
Barb's 3 year old daughter was her biggest connection to her first customers. A lot of the parents of little friends of Lila were craving local meat where they knew where it came from and how it was treated.  Trendy in Beacon is to "buy a cow". If you don't live here, that sounds odd, but people really do go in on buying a cow together from a local farm, and are given cut or ground pieces to store in a giant freezer in their basements. So friends of little Lila were in a Facebook group to put in their requests of what kind of meat they wanted Barb to cut for them when she want on a buying spree. Before she opened the shop, Barb had a loyal clientele.

"I see overlaps in math, it's terrible."
Barb states this like it's a nuisance, but it's wonderful for business. Barb is in tune with with people's needs, and knows that they need meat fresh, fast and for dinner. But they can't always get out to get it. She can calculate her costs and profits quickly, so she is constantly whipping up different deals and meals that people can buy. Like the February Special that can include 2 5oz filets, 2 6oz sirloin steaks, 4 bone in pork chops, 1 whole chicken, 6 all beef hot dogs or 4 fresh sausages, and 2 Beacon Pie Company Hand Pies (your choice of Apple, Blueberry or Cherry), all for about $49.99 (for the grain finished version). Dinner for the week…DONE.

BUSINESS IS GROWING, PLANS TO MOVE?
Businesses in Beacon are hard to pin down. They either open up shop, and don't catch the vibe of Beacon needed to stay. Or they open up shop, business booms, and they move to a larger location down the street. Just look at Beacon Bubble, Beacon Pantry, The Hop, and Ellas Bellas who expanded next door almost immediately. Will Barb's Butchery move? Probably not. Barb and her husband bought the building they opened the store in, and totally renovated it before opening. Under a dual loan - one for the business of owning a building and another loan for the business of a butchery - they are all in. And sure enough, Barb is already needing more space to store meat as their sales increase.

HAVE TRUCK WILL TRAVEL…AND DELIVER
Refrigerated truck to the rescue! Barb has a truck that can store meat, which makes it more convenient for her to actually purchase more meat directly from farms and skip the step of farms taking it elsewhere for storage.

More importantly for the rest of us, Barb's Butchery is going to deliver - if you want it. For those of us in Fresh Direct Withdrawal, Barb's Butchery can drive up to your house in their big truck to deliver your meat order of $50 or more, within a 10 mile radius of the store, and east of the Hudson River. Do you want it? Let her know - seriously - by going to her Facebook page to tell her. For a more in-depth look at how Barb funded the butchery - and the building its housed in - see this article.

And now...for pictures.

This is Porkchop. Yup, Barb called his references and that really is his name. He's trying to make it legal.

This is your sausage maker. Making lots and lots of sausage for Sausage Fest 2015, a kielbasi filled day on 2/28/15 Barb cooked up to introduce more than 21 sausage varieties.

 

A doodle on tile in Sharpie marker by Porkshop in the kitchen.

Teamwork. There are 7 employees total.

My lunch of a roast beef sandwich with swiss cheese. I ate all of the fries before I remembered to take a picture. Also pictured here is my trusty pink glitter notebook for notes that made its debut on a treadmill.

Congratulations, Barb! And thanks for opening!

Oak Vino Wine Bar is a Gem, and in Walking Distance

Oak Vino Wine Bar is the seven year passion project for owner and Middletown resident Rinny Shah. From the first sip of wine, I realized we were in no ordinary wine bar. We were in Rinny's happy place, and our palates were reaping the rewards from her dreams of opening a wine bar, and the consistent research she does on each bottle of wine offered in her bar.

When I stepped up to the bar to ponder the wine list before perching on the seat, I saw a familiar friend on the wine list that I don't normally order - Chianti. The first time I drank Chianti was in Tuscany, and it was a common table wine, but so good. It's when I finally understood the meaning of this line: "Going were the water tastes like wine." That's exactly what Chianti was like for me in Italy during a summer abroad taking literature classes. It was also the first time I actually liked red wine, having been plagued with headaches after consuming it at family holiday dinners. I came to realize ... not all wine is the same.

Upon returning from my trip to Italy, I'd order the table wine at Italian restaurants, which is often Chianti. It was not the same. I haven't ordered Chianti since.

Hence my nostalgic sigh, "Oh, Chianti...," when I saw it on Oak Vino's wine list. The woman behind the bar, who I came to learn was the owner Rinny Shah, heard my whisper, and answered "The Chianti is delicious." Shocked that she heard me, I had to order. Two glasses later, I learned her entire start-up story.

Rinny discovered the spot for the wine bar after a breakfast at The Beacon Bagel. Oak Vino Wine Bar is one of several business in "Market Square", the formerly empty row of storefronts that were available on Main Street for years, yet now hold several new businesses including More Good Syrups and Roosevelt Vet on the Hudson. When the Town Crier signed on, several other businesses fell into place as well. Rinny and her husband Griven Patal, a small business owner of phone stores in Fishkill, love Beacon. Rinny had been meticulously planning for a wine bar in her head while saving up at her corporate job. Due to a personal experience, she quit her job and finally pulled the trigger on the wine bar.

Griven points out that every detail in the wine bar is Rinny's design. From the reclaimed wood beams, to the wood lining of shelves in the wine refrigerator. She works 80 hours a week, planning the wines, and cooks the sauces and tapas she serves at the bar to compliment the wine. Griven remembers his first days as a small business owner, and is still amazed at Rinny's endurance to create a space so paired with her vision. In fact, Rinny's husband works with her and the rest of the staff on weekends to help close the bar and polish the crystal glasses.

Yes, crystal glasses. Because in Rinny's research, she discovered that wine tastes better in crystal. The glasses need polished every night, and who better to do it than a husband ;)

I can concur that red wine does taste better in crystal. Quite clean and poignant. I will have to try a white wine next! I've been in a few wine bars in my life, and I can promise you that this one is special.

Enjoy!

Picture quotes in the ladies bathroom. "Life goes by quickly. Just be happy.' And "Be free." Easily done in Oak Vino!

Behind the Scenes with All You Knead Bakery, Artisan Bakers

I'm somewhat of a small business junkie. I love stepping into the stores on Main Street and hearing the latest news of how business is going, and what latest tools they are using (like Square or Swipely?). When I lived in Manhattan, I'd do this with the taxi drivers, and boy did I get an earful when taxis were forced to accept credit cards. Hence my fascination with the Uber/Gett high class taxi drama that I wrote an article for: "An 'Open Interview' for Josh Mohrer, GM of Uber Regarding Gett Competition Tactics".

Such was the case when I was buying my weekly bread from Simone at All You Knead Bakery, the artisan bakers who left their digs in the old high school to claim a storefront location on Main Street several years ago. Simone was telling me about how she survived when her business partner and head baker suddenly put in his two weeks notice to quickly retire. Simone didn't know how to bake.

I interviewed Simone for Tin Shingle, my small business community based website and resource for small businesses that I run with my partner, Sabina Ptacin-Hitchen. I got the behind the scenes story of how All You Knead survived, and is thriving on Main Street, local farmers markets and nearby market grocery stores like Adams Fairacre Farms: "Rolling in Dough: When All You Knead Bakery Needed to Learn How to Bake" Talk about a Little Engine that Could! As is the nature of running and building a small business.

Click here for the full interview >