Business

Dan Fischer reports on WBTA this morning that Batavia manufacturer Graham Corp. let go 14 full-time employees yesterday. Most of those who received the pink slips were in the engineering department, Fischer says. A brief statement that was issued to the radio station did not give any reason for the layoffs, which were figured at about 5 percent of the total workforce.

We left a message at Graham Corp. to find out more. We will be sure to post any more information as it becomes available.

All the lights are extinguished. All the percolators are turned off, the swizzle sticks packed away and the steamers have all run out of steam. It's official... the end of an era.

Main Street Coffee is closed.

We would like to wish former proprietor Rob Credi the best of luck in his future endeavors. Credi took us in when we were still crawling, just learning how to walk, back in May. Main Street Coffee was the home base for The Batavian for several months before we procured an office of our own. We were always treated like family there. And we'll always consider it our home away from home. We hope that right now Credi is still sleeping, for once not having to get up before dawn to help us start our day with a fresh cup of coffee and a hot bagel sandwich.

All that being said, what do we do now? Where do we go now for a good cup of coffee served with class and culture and often—especially in the case of Credi—a touch of comedy? Let's take it to the polls... I'll tell you all right now that I'm voting for Hot Shots. I've always been and plan to remain a staunch supporter of locally-owned and operated cafés. So that's me. How about you? 

Many people love those big box, big chain stores. Often, they have a better selection of items then smaller, locally owned stores, not to mention the potential of better prices.

But is going to Wal-Mart, Target or Home Depot first, instead of one of the many local merchants that might carry the same wares the best choice for your community or yourself?

USAToday carried an interesting piece this past week on the virtues of shopping local.

There are good reasons for buying local. It reduces the need for shipping, which reduces pollution, and it supports the local community. "A study we did found that for every $100 spent in a chain store, $14 went back into the local economy. For a locally owned business, it was $45," says Stacy Mitchell, author of "Big-Box Swindle" and researcher with the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. "Locally owned businesses buy a lot of services from other local businesses. So by buying from one local business, you're not only supporting that business, you're supporting other local businesses."

The author offers examples of how she shops local. Of course, not all of those options are available in Batavia.  At times, unfortunately, the big box stores seem unavoidable.  But what are you doing to make a better effort to support your local economy?

(via Rochester Turning)

We stopped by a few businesses in Batavia earlier today to see how they've been holding up amidst the brutal storms over the weekend and today. Whiteouts and incessant snow may have deterred a few shoppers, but for the most part, business has found its way here. That's especially the case at Stan's Harley Davidson, where the three employees who were able to make it in to work today—several were called and told they didn't have to come in—could barely keep up with the swell of shoppers cycling through. We would love to hear from other businesses around town. How did you fare?

We've added a "Business" section to The Batavian.

We will continue to cover business news as we can, but we want local business owners and managers to know that they are welcome to post their own business on The Batavian.

What is allowed: Anything that qualifies as news -- information that will be interesting to readers.

What is NOT allowed: Pure advertising/marketing messages, such as "20 percent off sale" or "we have the best store in town."

Examples of "press releases" you might want to post:

• New business opening
• Relocation
• A new manager or key employee
• Retirement
• Grand Re-Opening event
• Anniversary (good chance to write about the history of the business)
• Advice to readers related to the business specialty.
• New product or service (but this needs to be informational, not promotional)

Please be careful not to republish verbatim material for other publications, which would constitute a copyright violation.

The Batavian reserves the right to remove any content editors determine doesn't meet our guidelines. We may also promote your post to our home page, but make no promise to put any particular post on the home page.

We are eager to get news from any business in Genesee County.

To learn how to post your own news, check out our tutorials on our Help Page.

If you are interesting in advertising, contact Howard Owens, (howard (at) the batavian (one word) dot com, or 585-260-6970).

Rochester's Democrat & Chronicle reports this morning that the Red Wings operations crew, Rochester Community Baseball, lost more than $250,000 on the Muckdogs in 2008 "in an effort to save professional baseball in Batavia." Because of that loss, not even a $150,000 profit pulled in by the Red Wings was enough to keep the company from losing nearly $95,000 for the year.

Naomi Silver, chief operating officer of RCB, spoke with Bob Matthews:

"Considering the poor economy, we're pretty happy with our overall financial statement. But Batavia was a tough nut. We won't stay in Batavia indefinitely if the operation continues to lose money."

Red Wings group outings and advertising set all-time record highs, according to Matthews. Not so rosy in Batavia.

"We expected to lose some money in Batavia due to startup costs at Dwyer Stadium, but attendance was disappointing," Silver said. "We're going to run the Muckdogs again next year, and this time we'll have a full offseason to sell tickets and advertising.

Attendance for the 2008 Muckdogs was 45,398, including the playoffs. That was up slightly over 2007. The Muckdogs won the NY-P league championship for the first time since 1963.

"Although the Batavia operation was unprofitable in 2008, we recognize that it was a transition year — and a losing year," RCB president Gary Larder said. "We are optimistic about an improved financial outcome in 2009."

Silver stressed that the company wants to keep the team in Batavia, "ideally" for 20 years, but she was careful to note that "we're taking our committment one year at a time."

Please check out the complete article by Bob Matthews.

Batavia's City Board of Education will meet tonight at 7:00pm at the administration building on Washington Avenue, according to WBTA's Dan Fischer. You can download the meeting agenda via the city schools' Web site. Board members are expected to go into an executive session regarding an employment matter.

In other news, Fischer reports that Tops Markets will add as many as ten new stores throughout the region, including several that are planned for Buffalo and Rochester. The supermarket chain will also invest some $150 million in renovations to its existing stores.

Roger Muehlig reports that the Genesee County Economic Development Center is selling its Mill Street headquarters and will lease back its office space from new owners.

The move paves the way for the property to move back onto the tax roles.

The  price: $675,000. The buyer: Harris Mill Street Properties.

A mortgage tax and sliding scale property tax exemptions package approved by GCEDC directors for the sale totals about $187,745. The largest part of that is an estimated $180,995 in property taxes on a sliding scale over a 10-year period.

The agency is considering relocation within the next three years to one of its other project locations.

Muehlig says that more than 35 new companies have been launched from the business incubator the GCEDC runs from the location.

The agency is working on at least three major development project in Genesee County.

Dan and Debbie Fischer sure know how to throw a party.

There was plenty of food and laughs tonight at 113 E. Main St., in the studio of Batavia's WBTA.

The radio station hosted the Chamber's monthly mixer and made sure all guests were quite entertained.

Below, Dan received a certificate of recognition from the Chamber for hosting the event.

Buffalo Pundit links to a story about the economic hard times in Detroit and draws a comparison with Western New York.

From the Time.com story:

When a state lives with a story line of decline for so long, it doesn’t just affect the mood. It becomes part of the culture. Whereas America’s history has been one of expanding horizons, yours has become funnel-shaped. Much like the postbellum South, Rust Belt culture looks backward at an idealized past–a nostalgia not for plantations but for three-bedroom houses paid up on blue collar salaries. (See pictures of the remains of Detroit.)

“It used to be you could get a job at one of those factories, even without an education, and make a decent living to support your family,” says letter carrier Dina Schueller, 33, of Saranac. Now her husband has been laid off from his construction job, and her brother moved to Maryland for work. Like many left-behind Michiganders, she’ll be seeing fewer family members this season.

We've had discussions about the future of Western New York before, and I know some people are skeptical that the local economy can ever grow again, but when you look at efforts to bring new manufacturing businesses to Batavia and Alabama, for example, then it's hard not to be hopeful that renewed growth is a real possibility.

WNY has a lot going for it, such as natural resources, open spaces, an available work force, affordable housing.  There's no reason there can't be a renaissance of sorts.

Philip visited the Genesee County Economic Development Council today and is working on a post now about some of the things GCEDC is doing to help expand business opportunities in the county.

Sean Dobbin, with Rochester's Democrat & Chronicle, spent some time out at Graham Corp. recently. He put together a fine piece on the Batavia manufacturer.

Following a recent drop in the company's stock price, Graham Corp. executives set up a guided tour of the facilities Wednesday for six potential investors.

From that article:

(Chief Executive Officer Jim) Lines told the group, which was a mix of financial advisory executives and private investors, that the company didn't adequately prepare for the economic downturn, citing improper staffing as the reason for some of Graham's struggles. But the company is in the midst of overhauling its in-house processes in hopes of emerging from the recession stronger.

Dobbin picked up on a sense of optimism among the investors.

Investors seemed impressed with Graham's presentation, which included lunch and a question-answer session with the executives. Some saw Graham's stock as a potential bargain. "It was probably too high at $54, but then it got all the way down to $6.85, and now it sounds like it's too cheap," said Gary Lindsley, a private investor from Clyde, Ohio.

The article also includes a couple of good photographs.

Genesee County residents will see no increase in their property tax rate for next year, according to the Daily News. County legislators made the cuts necessary to keep the rate at $9.82 per $1,000 of assessed valuation.

In other news, Country Max has taken over the former Pet Mart store in the city of Batavia. Unfortunately, the article is not entirely clear on what this means. It seems as if "Country Max has a 10-year lease at its new location," yet it's also stated in the article that "Pet Mart is still listed as being owned by Andrew Mistler, father of local entrepreneur Ken Mistler." Further, the article states that Ken Mistler manages the Pet Mart store, but he "wants to become less involved with that business." Wouldn't the fact that a different company now owns the business mean that Mistler wouldn't be involved at all?

We encourage you to pick up a copy of the Daily News at your local newsstand. Or, better yet, subscribe at BataviaNews.com.

Last night, as I sat nursing a nearly warm stout and picking at the last bits of a charred creole burger in a local sports pub, a cross-legged CNN reporter flashed her inane smiles and asked her inane questions of former president Bill Clinton on the television suspended on the wall above my head. At one point, the text bar flashed something like: "Economy will recover in three years, says former president," or some such statement. Essentially, Clinton was telling us that everything would be all fixed up by the time (conveniently) we arrive at the next presidential campaign season.

Anyhow, the prediction got me thinking. Or, to be more specific, the pretension to make such a prediction got me thinking. Meteorologists can't accurately give you the weather ten days out. Weather is subject to a little thing called chaos mathematics. Chaos. Ditto, economics. So how does this guy have it all figured out, and how is he fixing the date for us?

Over the past few days, in my perusals of our two area metropolitan newspapers—the Buffalo News and the Democrat & Chronicle—I've noted a surfeit of articles on folks making claims about the character, depth, meaning and longevity of our current recession; in particular, the recession and its affects on the economy of Upstate New York. So what I thought to do was put together a sort of pastiche, culling fragments from six articles that appeared this week in these two publications. Then we can take a look at them, side by side as it were, and see if we can't get a better look at any truths that may be lurking in the shadows.

We'll start with an article we referenced yesterday from the Buffalo News. It's about Robert Wilmers, chief executive officer of M&T Bank Corp., who claims that upstate needs "big projects" to help drive its future growth. Here's what Wilmers has to say about the recession in particular:

Wilmers was asked when he believed the recession will end. “The recession will last for a long time, and I don’t think 2009 will be a good year economically,” he responded.

An article from the Democrat & Chronicle (Tuesday) backs that claim. Not only are we now officially in our 13th month of the recession, but we New Yorkers will likely remain much longer in the grips of the recession.

New York officials and economists are wondering if this downturn will hurt the state for a longer period than the nation feels pain. Data from the state Department of Labor show that the two most recent U.S. recessions, which each lasted eight months, started sooner and lasted later in New York, costing 545,000 jobs between 1989 and 1992 and 330,000 jobs between 2000 and 2003.

Our factory production would also indicate that we're headed for a long hard slide. From a Buffalo News article (today):

“The manufacturing sector is in a recession,” said Mikhail Melnik, a Niagara University economist.

With the nationwide financial crisis causing consumers to tighten their purse strings and companies to hold back on spending, Melnik said he does not expect a quick turnaround by the local economy.

“The situation is expected to worsen over the next several months,” he said.

If you think that's bad. According to another article in the Buffalo News (today), it's only going to get worse.

The U. S. service sector shrank far more than expected in November, as employment, new orders and prices plunged, hurting retailers, hotels and airlines. Meanwhile, Americans hunkered down heading into the holidays, forcing retailers to ring up fewer sales and factories to cut back on production.

The Institute for Supply Management’s closely watched gauge of activity in service industries, where most Americans work, showed that for every company adding jobs, eight cut payrolls last month. That ratio led some economists to boost their forecasts for layoffs for November to levels not seen since the early 1980s.

As for the unemployed, expect to see many more of them over the next year. With the jobless rate expected to hit 6.8 percent by the end of the week, analysts are predicting that we'll see an increase to near 9 percent by this time next year.

But wait a second! We've got another prediction. From this same article:

“I am looking for this recession to last 18 months, ending in June,” said David Wyss, chief economist at Standard & Poor’s in New York.

Eighteen months! But Bill Clinton said three years. As for "New York officials," they seem to expect this sucker to pick up more steam as we head into the New Year. Plus, we've got Wilmers telling us that we're in it for at least another year or more.

But we're shopping. Or... at least, we were on Friday. An article in the Democrat & Chronicle (today) is literally entitled: Shoppers forgot about recession on Friday. This first line especially is worth a laugh, which may have even been intended:

The economy has officially been in a recession for the past 12 months, but apparently no one told Black Friday about it.

We even spent an average of $25 more per shopper than last year—which, at this time, it ought to be pointed out, was also in recession.

Bargains prompted many to buy more than usual. Spending more during the big sales — some New York retailers offered discounts of up to 60 percent off normal prices — can mean saving money in the long run.

"I'm always the bargain shopper, and this year this is our Christmas present" said Kerry Bryan, 28, of Chili, who bought a $600 television at Best Buy on Friday morning for herself and her fiancé. "If we get it early, it's just a bonus."

A $600 television! Is that really the purchase of a recession-stricken American? And she even calls it a bonus! We're expected to near double digit unemployment rates by the end of next year, and we've got people spending hundreds of dollars on luxury items. Maybe things aren't that bad.

One guy is willing to go out on a limb and say just that. This is from another article that appeared in the Democrat & Chronicle (yesterday).

Charles Plosser, president and chief executive of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, said growth should resume in the second half of 2009, though overall economic expansion for the year will be tepid, probably falling short of 2 percent.

Plosser forecast that the national unemployment rate, currently 6.5 percent, will rise above 7 percent in 2009.

But the former dean of the Simon school at the University of Rochester said he does expect a turnaround to begin late in the year.

"The housing sector should finally (hit) bottom and the actions taken by the Federal Reserve and the Treasury will gradually help financial markets return to some semblance of normalcy," Plosser told the audience at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Rochester.

So, things should start looking rosy again come Christmas time next year. Oh, except for the more than 7 percent of the population who will be out of work.

I don't know, folks. We've got a lot of information here. A lot of different people telling us a lot of different things. Who do we believe? Any of them? Does the guy falling off his barstool on the other end of the bar any less qualified to make predictions than Bill Clinton or Charles Plosser or "New York officials"?

Check back later today Friday for our look at the credit crisis here in Genesee County.

An article in the Buffalo News this morning got me thinking. Briefly, the article is about Robert Wilmers, chief executive officer of M&T Bank Corp. Wilmers spoke to an audience of venture capitalists about revitalizing the upstate economy.

He pointed out that New York City’s economy — until recently — had been doing "a lot better than the economy upstate."

Part of that is due to what he called the "innate attributes" of the city itself, but he also cited the "billions and billions of dollars" spent on projects such as the 42nd Street revival, the South Street Seaport, the Jacob Javits Center and Ground Zero.

By contrast, "in upstate, including Western New York, we have not seen any large projects."

Indeed, Wilmers said he was told by former downstate Empire State Development chairman Patrick Foye that up to 70 percent of the agency’s money was spent upstate, but "I was having trouble finding that."

So this got me thinking. Rochester tried for its home-run project some years back. Who here remembers the fast ferry? Connect Rochester to Toronto. Boost tourism. Bring in the money. Yeah... So, that one tanked. Big.

But what about Batavia... what could we do for Batavia that would give it that shot in the arm, get the kids out walking the streets and the old folks dancing in their homes? Money rolling in, fame, glory. We're not on a body of water, so we don't have to worry about a ferry flop. We've already got the "mall" that people love to hate.

Wilmers:

Finally, the region should combine tourism and its renowned architecture to draw in visitors. “We’ve been less successful than most communities in upstate New York,” he said dryly. “We have not destroyed as many architectural sites as other parts of the country.”

Batavia has plenty of architecture to show off: glorious old homes, towering brick churches, regal crumbling mansions.

So... We had the chance to ask Pat Weissend what he would want for Batavia. Weissend is the director of the Holland Land Office Museum. He says, why not think even bigger. Something huge, something humungous! At a recent meeting of the Kiwanis Club, Weissend heard a presentation by economic developer Chad Zambito about erecting an enormous technological-industrial park in Alabama. This industrial center would create 10,000 jobs and entirely transform the character of the region, says Weissend.

Well, either that, or establish the state of Genesee. "We could be the 51st state," he says. Just make sure there's enough money left over to triple the size of the museum.

More than 260 area employees will soon be without a job. WBTA's Dan Fischer reports that the Seneca Gaming Corp. will be laying off 210 of its workers, all of whom are employed at the casinos in Buffalo, Niagara Falls and Salamanca. Seneca cites the "worsening economy." Also, in Rochester, the Democrat & Chronicle will be eliminating 59 jobs, 34 of which will be paid off this week. That accounts for 8 percent of the total workforce, according to an article from the Associated Press, which has this to say of the newspaper layoffs:

The newspaper has not yet specified how many of the layoffs will occur in the newsroom. After the cuts are made, it will have 680 full-time and part-time employees.

Publisher Ali Zoibi says rising costs and a drop in advertising and circulation revenue have created what he called "this unpleasant situation."

He said the newspaper also is trimming non-payroll expenses.

Tough times, it seems, all over.

Beginning this January, Genesee Community College will host a pair of related courses for three successive semesters on "Exploring Business Opportunities" and "Entrepreneurship." Associate Professor Barbara Shine welcomes innovators large and small. If you've got the sure-fire idea for the next big thing, you're welcome. If you're not sure what you want to do, but you know you've got the gumption, you're welcome, too.

As for the best news: it's free, and anyone can attend the courses. College students. Retirees. Workers. Anyone. Just be sure to get your application in by January 15 to be considered for this coming semester. (Scroll down to the end of the post for all the details).

Earlier this week, we took a moment to sit down and chat with Barbara Shine, to pick her brain a bit about what it takes to build a successful business. Here's what she had to say:

The Batavian: Much has been made in advance of the courses about the rough economy and this being, in fact, a great time for entrepreneurs. In the press release sent out by the college, for example, we read: "With the unemployment rate at 6.5% and expected to climb higher, entrepreneurs and energetic American inventors and innovators are an essential element in the recovery of the nation's economy." Can you explain why that is the case?

Barb Shine: Well, we know, because of the employment world, that small businesses hire more people than the total who work for large corporations. That's where the opportunities are. We as entrepreneurial educators need to remind folks from an economic standpoint that it's the small businesses that raise the opportunities to support our communities from an economic standpoint. However, small businesses may have a poor track record of staying in business for a long time. But that is where we as educators can help out. There are a lot of places for entrepreneurs to get education.

What advice might you have for folks who may be considering going into business for themselves? What should they consider at the outset?

First, you need to verify that the market is interested in your concept. I call them concepts. You need to do market research. Find out what alternatives are out there for a consumer. Find out how does your product differentiate itself. Those questions need to be answered. Also, the market has to be big enough to be profitable for the individual. So you look at marketing, first, then financial feasibility, then operations.

One of the beauties of the course is that we will tell people what's out there, what the market will bear from a trend standpoint. People need to understand that (doing) what we're passionate about and making it work in the marketplace can be two different things.

An entrepreneur needs to always be looking out for the next best thing. You do this by social networking, reading the magazines, looking at the competition—and not necessarily the logical competitors. Who would have thought that the customer service style for Disney would work in a bank? In fact, Disney sells their customer service package to large financial institutions.

What will each class entail? Do people need to attend both? Can they attend one and not the other?

In the first class, "Exploring Business Opportunities," the questions that should get answered include: Do I have the right concept that the market would be interested in? Am I passionate enough? Because it requires lots of energy, time, money. Do I have what it takes? What do I need to think about from marketing, operations and financial standpoints? Then we need to verify that there is a market, make sure there is enough of a popoluation and buyers.

In the second class, "Entrepreneurship," we will put a plan together. This class qualifies the details of what I need to do to make it happen. It's the five P's: proper planning prevents poor performance. The goal is to plan... And assuming they need funding, they will use that plan to support loan or investor options. In most cases, folks do bootstrapping entrepreneurship: That's where funding is minimal: from family, savings, second mortgage—they bootstrap it if they can.

How are things looking right now as far as loan options?

It depends on how much money an individual is looking for, their personal credit line. Do I think it's at a standstill because of the credit crisis: No. The basics are still important. There are other alternatives aside from banks, other investor opportunities. Personality, their own financial background—there's an array of variables. An entrepreneur shouldn't be deterred if they have a great idea and there's a market... but they need to come to the table with the right plan to turn their business into a profitable entity.

Shine also spoke about specific trends that are hot right now on the market. They include: green energy, organic foods, Web applications, and alternative energy solutions. In fact, the December issue of Entrepreneur magazine is devoted to the upcoming trends and might be a good read for those considering taking the courses and testing the waters with their own idea.

From the press release:

The Genesee Community College scholarship program is part of the collaborative WIRED (Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development) grant, wherein eligible participants will be reimbursed for the cost of tuition and books for two college entrepreneurship courses offered in this coming Spring, Summer and Fall of 2009. The scholarship grants are valued at approximately $500 per semester for enrolling and completing Business 111: Exploring Business Opportunities; and Business 225: Entrepreneurship.

Interested individuals should submit the scholarship application form and related materials as soon as possible. The application deadline for the Spring 2009 semester is January 15th. Women and minorities are strongly encouraged to apply. Scholarship awardees will be notified prior to the start of each course.

For more information on the program or to get a copy of the scholarship application, visit the college's Web site.

Coincidentally, SUNY Geneseo is right now looking for business mentors for their Young Entrepreneurs Academy at the college. From the Academy:

The Young Entrepreneurs Academy is a program for middle and high school students that teaches them how to launch and run their very own business.

Mentors will have the opportunity to assist their student group in the process of developing and writing a business plan and creating an investor presentation used to request funding. We also encourage mentors to share their business experiences with the groups over the course of their meetings. Previous students have indicated that hearing first-hand accounts from members of the business community make a significant impact on what they are learning.

Visit the program's Web site for more information.

A dozen prison farms across the state will be closed down over the next six months, according to WBTA's Dan Fischer. That includes the farm in Attica. The State Department of Corrections has said that the cost of maintaining the farms exceeds the revenue brought in by the produce. Don't know about anyone else, but I was surprised to hear that these farms still existed.

A JP Morgan Call Center based in Albion will remain open, and its 850 employees will remain at work. Fischer reports that there had been concern over whether the center would remain open after Chase acquired Washington Mutual two months ago.

Daily News reporter Roger Muehlig spoke with some shoppers in Batavia Saturday, chatting with those who did not come out for Black Friday.

That's about it for today.

We encourage you to pick up a copy of the Daily News at your local newsstand. Or, better yet, subscribe at BataviaNews.com.

A Batavia business mainstay for more than a century, Loose Ends Vending & Food Service, has been sold, according to WBTA's Dan Fischer. A Massachusetts company will take over the vending service and incorporate it into "the nation's largest vending company," Next Generation, which operates out of Canton. Fischer reports that: "Many Batavia workers will be transferred to the new company's offices and warehouses in Buffalo and Rochester." No mention of how many workers will be affected, or if any stand to lose their jobs. Loose Ends was owned by brothers Thomas and John Houseknecht, along with their brother-in-law William Barton and nephew Michael Houseknecht. The family also owned the Pepsi-Cola Batavia Bottling Corp., which was sold nine months ago to the Pepsi Bottling Group.

Multiple accidents on the Thruway eastbound near Pembroke kept the highway closed down and backed up for nearly 20 miles yesterday evening. Slick wet roads are likely to blame for the crashes.