downtown

Most new retail businesses never last past the first year. The owners either run out of cash, mismanage their inventory or pick a poor location. For Kamilla Kabel, though, she had more than a dream. She had a plan and did her research.

House of K celebrated its fifth anniversary on Saturday, and Kabel was all smiles.

"I feel it is an accomplishment," Kabel said. "I set out for a goal. My business plan said for five years of survival and I’ve done it, and (there's) even been a (widespread) financial crisis at the same time."

House of K features designer European fashion for women, and Kabel, a native of Denmark, said her stylish clothing appeals to women of Genesee County as well as drawing customers from Rochester and Buffalo.

"We bring in unique items you can't get any place else," Kabel said.

Kabel moved to the U.S. in 1999 to be closer to Batavian Ben Kabel, whom she met in Copenhagen while he was studying architecture there. They were married in 2000. The Kabels now have two children.

After obtaining a two-year degree in interior design from Monroe Community College and working as an assistant manager at Pier 1 Imports in Amherst, Kamilla wanted to do something that would give her more freedom to visit her parents in Denmark. She told the Daily News in 2004 that she always wanted to own her own business.

Retail was a good choice. The always-effusive Kabel says she loves people and the only bad times she has in the store is when there are no customers to talk with and help find the perfect dress for an afternoon wedding or pick just the right accessory for a designer blouse.

"The high point (of owning the store) has definitely been the customers," Kabel said. "We’ve become friends and I know their lives and they know me."

In a business environment where many naysayers might try to talk people out of starting their own stores, Kabel's advice is simple: "Go for it."

"You have to give it a try or you will always wonder," Kabel said. "You don’t know what lies ahead. You can try and prepare for everything, but you never know, so you’ve just got to go with the flow and change things along the way."

I've always dreamed of owning a powder blue Chevy Bel Air. Earlier this evening, I spotted one of the cars of my dreams at the Tuesday Night Classic Car Cruise downtown. I also saw the Mustang of my dreams, and the Impala of my dreams and the Camaro of my dreams. Unfortunately, no Cadillac El Dorado of my dreams, though.

Next Tuesday night is the last night to catch these classic beauties, if you haven't been yet this summer.

This afternoon, I popped over to the first day of the Downtown Public Market on Ellicott and Center. First stop: Alston's Bone-Suckin Bar-B-Que sauce stand. The sample alone was worth the trip.  Then I had a couple of red hots from the Jackson St. Grill said.

The market closed early today after the National Weather Service sent out a severe thunderstorm warning.

It will open again next Thursday in the same location at 8:30 a.m.

The Downtown Public Market opens in the morning at 9:30 a.m.

Vendors this year include: Lloyd Christ Farms, S & T Christ Farms, J & W Fresh Farm Produce, Nice Farms, Schwab Farms & Watt Farm, Alston’s BBQ Sauce, Genesee ARC (Handmade) Pet Products, Nonna’s Vegetable Plants & Crafts & Pressed Flowers by L. Regatuso, Posy Power Peddler

Jackson St. Grill & Belladessa’s Pizza will serve hots, hamburgers, pizza & refreshments from 11:30 am to 1:30 pm.

The market runs every Thursday for the season from 9:30 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the corner of Center and Ellicott.

The downtown carnival was crowded this evening when I stopped by.  It runs through Sunday.

Jeff Gillard, above, was honored as the volunteer of the year for the Business Improvement District, and Kent Ewell, owner of O'Lacy's was given the "Spirit of Downtown" award at today's BID annual luncheon.

The Carnival is coming to town. Work crews are busy now on Jackson Street setting up 10 rides for kids of all ages (so long as they're at least 36 inches tall).  The carnival opens Friday afternoon.

Ken Mislter, who currently owns 9 buildings in Downtown Batavia by his count, has reached a purchase agreement for the former South Beach Restaurant location.

The deal will close May 1. Mistler said the building will be immediately available to a lessee looking to open a restaurant.  It's turnkey ready, Mislter said.

"The guy (Alex Giuliani) left the salt and the pepper," Mistler said, explaining how the restaurant is ready to open now.

Alex and Barbara left the location in pristine condition, other sources tell me.

The asking price for the building was $425,000. Mistler said he paid something less than that, but won't disclose the price until after it becomes public record. Separately, he also bought all the equipment.
 

Alex and Barbara Giuliani closed the restaurant unexpectedly three months ago, and the abrupt closure was controversial.

Bill Brown is a fine writer, and his description of Downtown Batavia as it once was on the Daily's Web site is as fine a remembrance of what was lost to "urban renewal" as I've seen:

A generation has grown up that never knew downtown Batavia and its varied and vibrant collection of stores, banks, offices, restaurants and apartments. The generation who does remember had to slug through life without cellphones, laptops, iPods and wall-sized flat screen TVs. So maybe it’s a fair exchange.

Shops occupied the first floor. Offices and other services were upstairs, and apartments took up the third floors. Hundreds of people lived downtown. They patronized the stores, went to the movies, ate at restaurants and window-shopped on busy streets. Dislocating these families and their influence — economic and social — was an unwelcome and unexpected disaster.

...

Gone were Brenner’s Jewelers (It’s Always OK to Owe Herb Brenner’’ but read the fine print). The Bank of America occupies the Main and Bank site. Mancuso Motors with a grand showroom has given way to Tim Hortons. The Mill Outlet where bargain-hunters were lured by popcorn and rummage sale counters is no more. The fortress-like Bank of Batavia was demolished for retailers. Movie fans had four theaters: the New Family and Lafayette on Jackson Street and the Dipson and Mancuso — late ’40s arrivals — on Main Street.

Read the whole thing.

We received this press release from Don Burkel at the BID:

Downtown Batavia –  The Square Is Back!  “Jackson Square Inside” Concert will be on Friday, March 13th, Batavia City Centre (former Genesee Country Mall) from 7:00-9:00 pm,  featuring  The Ghost Riders.  This is the first of two “Inside” concerts to bring people downtown and to get everyone ready for the June concert series outside.  This concert is sponsored by: Batavia Business Improvement District and the Batavia City Centre Merchants Association.

The next “Inside” concert will be on Friday, April 24th featuring The OHMS Band (6:30 pm-8:00 pm).  This performance will be in conjunction the Genesee County Chamber’s Small Business Week Showcase.

For more information about this and other downtown events visit the B.I.D. website at   www.downtownbataviany.com  or call 585-344-0900. 

 

Earlier today, we reported that the city of Batavia may not release the salaries of its city employees until after the City Council has already voted on the budget. Several individuals have come to us to express concern over the choice by Council to institute raises for city officials when unemployment is on the rise and every week seems to bear the news of another downtown business closing shop.

Is it just? Should city officials and department heads get raises just because all other city employees are guaranteed a raise under their union contract?

Many of us been have wondering about the fate of the Pontillo's restaurant in Batavia ever since the doors closed in November, followed soon after by the news that the business owes more than $112,000 in back state taxes. Few could argue that they had one of the best lunch buffets around.

Owner Sam Pontillo has been assuring people all along that the restaurant would open up again... soon... even if he had to find some other location in the city to do it. Initially, Sam told the Daily News that the restaurant was closing down for renovations and would re-open in a couple weeks. Of course, that didn't come to pass, and in the latest article in the Daily, he's quoted as saying: "people will be able to get a Pontillo's pizza in Batavia by April 1."

Sam's brother John Pontillo spoke with us by phone this afternoon. John is currently living and working at a country club in Minnesota, where he has been since his unceremonious dismissal from the family business by his two brothers, Sam and Paul, around this time last year.

Most of you will recognize the name John from what you have read in the Daily's coverage. Most recently, for example, Sam spoke of John when he told Joanne Beck that he "had to pay the tab of his brothers' neglect."

"They left an unpaid tab. Once again, I'm footing the bill," he said Thursday.

Those taxes were the responsibility of siblings John and Paul, who ran the Batavia Pontillo's Pizza & Pasta until Sam Pontillo closed it in early November, Sam said. He bought his current Le Roy Pontillo's site in 2007.

In every article in the Daily News, John has been accused by his brother Sam of being responsible for "neglecting" the finances and failing to pay the taxes for the business in Batavia. Sam also told the newspaper that he had no foreknowledge of the unpaid taxes.

That's just not true, John told us today. Sam knew about the tax problems all along, and this wasn't the first time that it happened, he said.

Back in 2006, both restaurants, in LeRoy and Batavia, were cited by the state for owing back taxes in excess of $350,000. At that time, Sam was in charge of all the operations, says John. "He was president of both locations."

Later on in 2006, it was decided that the Batavia and LeRoy locations would be incorporated seperately as Sam's Tomato Pies and LeRoy Dough Boys, respectively. On the articles of incorporation for the LeRoy restaurant, Sam is listed as owner and as president. His brother Paul is listed as secretary. As for the Batavia restaurant, Sam's mother, Elizabeth, is listed as owner, Sam as secretary and Paul as president.

John is nowhere named as an officer of either company. He insists that he was only ever a paid employee like everyone else who worked there. That he was fired so precipitously last February only attests to that.

"They say that it happened on my watch," said John. "I was never an officer of the company. I was just an hourly employee. That's all I ever was."

John could not comment in detail due to the pending litigation between the brothers to determine who will take over the Batavia restaurant. They are also waiting to execute the will of their mother, Elizabeth, which could help decide some of the details of who owns the rights to the name: Pontillo's.

John did say, however, that the brothers need to move fast to come to an agreement, because the mortgage company, which has not been paid since Novemeber, could foreclose on the property by the end of the month.

A third restaurant in 30 days has closed its doors in downtown Batavia. Grugnale's Italian Deli on Jackson Street is shuttered today. A sign on the door states that the deli has closed temporarily while the owners seek out a new location, WBTA's Dan Fischer reports. "The owners there have said they hope to re-open the business," says Fischer.

South Beach on Main Street and Sallome's Deli on Oak Street have also recently closed their doors.

Don Burkel, Executive Director of the Batavia Business Improvement District (BID), said there is hope and incentive for future business owners and shoppers downtown. Burkel said some of the incentives currently in the works could include: a coupon book and a shop-and-dine night—during which downtown shoppers can get discounts at local eateries and find sales at local merchants. Businesses may also look to benefit from cooperative advertising with the media.

The BID continues to plan events coming up in March and April and has already confirmed the bands, the Formula and Ghost Riders to perform at Jackson Square this summer.