Holiday Gift Guide-Good time gifts: With budgets tight, give the gift that keeps on giving

Cash is tight this year, not just for consumers, but for local businesses, too. Why not give a gift that supports local businesses, and enhances quality of life?

Research shows that money spent at local businesses stays local. When you spend a dollar at a local business, about half of that dollar stays in the local economy, in contrast with the dollar you spend at a national chain, where only about 13 cents of that dollar stays in the nearby economy. Likewise, money spent at independent locally-owned businesses recirculates an average 3.5 times more than money spent at a chain business. When you Christmas shop locally, you're not just keeping businesses open and preventing vacancies, you're helping your neighbors--and isn't that the true spirit of Christmas?

This year, consider giving the gift of a good time. Season tickets or the gift of a membership help defray someone's entertainment costs throughout the year. Experiential gifts like restaurant gift certificates and concert tickets can also help local businesses keep their doors open, since extras like outings and tickets are some of the first items that get scratched off a budget when times are tight. Give an experiential gift, and you give a gift that keeps on giving.

And the Central Business District has a lot of affordable entertainment options, from live music to gym memberships to basketball tickets--so there's something for just about everyone on your list.

Music, film, debates and theater--It's all happening at the Linda, WAMC's Performing Arts Studio at 339 Central Avenue. And with prices ranging from $6 to $25 and up, you can go online and buy a handful of tickets for a year's worth of events. Check out the schedule and buys tickets at http://www.wamcarts.org/ or call at 465-5233 ext. 4.

Know someone who could use a little relaxation or rejuvenation? Think about giving the gift of yoga classes or introducing them to Nia, a new fitness fusion program. The Center for Nia and Yoga at 4 Central Avenue offers a range of yoga, Nia, and meditation classes that reduce stress and promote wellness. You can purchase passes to individual classes or get a season pass through their website: http://www.nia-yoga.com/ or call the center at 463-5145.

Want to give the gift of health? Buy someone you love a gym membership.

Best Fitness at 911 Central Avenue, offers memberships, for fees as low as $19.99 a month. Membership includes access to fitness equipment, a full schedule of classes, childcare, and tanning and steamroom facilities. Check out their website at http://www.bestfitness.us/ or call the gym at 435-2378.

Another option is the the Capital District YMCA with fees starting at $11 a month for youth, and $46 a month for adults. Membership includes access to fitness equipment, a full schedule of classes, child care, camping, and a swimming pool. Check out their website at http://www.cdymca.org/ or call at 869-3500.
Fees to join vary.

Got a culinary enthusiast? Everyone loves a good meal, and Central offers food from around the world. Buy a gift certificate to your favorite restaurant, and you can introduce someone you love to something new! Check out some of the different options at http://www.dinetheavenue.com/

Capital Kidzwear: Urbanite brings urbanwear to Albany

Before opening Capital Kidzwear, Suwie Waweru did her homework.

Waweru is an M.B.A., who was working in the financial services field in Manhattan. She describes herself as a "New York City girl pretty much forever," but after the events of September 11, she like so many other New Yorkers, decided to make a change.

Waweru decided to open her own business, and she approached the task with determination and energy. She began researching the Capital District, looking at census information for each city, and did surveys of the area. After learning about Albany's charter school boom, and its diversity, she decided it was the perfect location for the business she had in mind--a clothing store for children that specializes in urban wear and school uniforms. It was the kind of store that she saw all over New York and northern New Jersey, but there weren't any in the here, she said.

According to the store slogan, the store carries "clothes kids wanna wear," including stylish namebrands like Rocawear, Bank Street, and Pellepelle, as well as shoes, boots, and outerwear. They also have a range of formalwear for boys and girls, including little boys' tuxedos and christening clothing.

She and her husband, Patrick Waweru, opened the store in 2006, and business has been good since opening, she said. "It's following the economy," she said. Store sales were relatively stable until July, and then they took a sharp dive, she said. But Waweru, who regularly talks to the surrounding shopowners and other neighbors nearby, said that all small businesses are having trouble right now.

Many local businesses are not making a profit, and they haven't been since July, she said. They need some help or they're going to go out of business. "And you really don't want them to go out of business," she warned. "You really don't, because it will be harder to get that momentum going again."

Capital Kidzwear is on the block of Washington that overlooks Townsend Park, a section of the district that's been known for difficulties with vagrants and graffiti, but these days there's more security and more police support, and that's making it easier to do business here, Waweru said.

More businesses have also come to the area, and that's helping the community reclaim this part of the city. For a long time, many of the surrounding buildings had vacancies, but with the recent addition of Townsend Park Bakery and the new Trustco Bank on the corner, the area is almost fully occupied, and the large office building just down the street at 4 Central Avenue is being renovated to attract new tenants. With just a continued guidance and support, the area can be fully revitalized, she said.

Waweru is full of ideas for revitalizing the area. She believes the Townsend Park area needs better and more consistent signage. Similar signs in an area provide a sense of continuity and security, she said. Business owners could use some help with funding those signs; even $400-$500 in grants for businesses would be a big help, she said.

Waweru also wants businesses to work together to stamp out graffiti. "If you see graffiti, get rid of it," she said. Local businesses don't know that the BID and the city will help them remove graffiti, they think they have to do it themselves, she said.

She also wants more initiatives like Larkfest, to help drum up business. This year, for the first time, Larkfest included the lower part of the Central Business District. The event was "a Godsend," she said, and only wishes there were more events like it. Perhaps businesses could organize sidewalk sales, or another street festival. She also pointed to the themed events that take place in the Empire Plaza Concourse, and said it would be nice if more businesses were invited to participate in these events.

Central Avenue's diversity is valuable, and it should be seen as something positive, she concluded. "People shouldn't be afraid of people who aren't like them coming in and opening businesses. Most people are just the same as you. They're trying to make a buck and raise a family," she said. She urged the community to communicate with these businesses and to open a dialogue with them. They have ideas for initiatives, and input for new businesses, and they can provide guidance for one another, she said.

Neighborhood associations should reach out to business owners as well as residents, she said. The meetings could be a place where local businesses are promoted, and also a forum where residents can ask for goods and services that they need from surrounding businesses, she said.

"There's a lot of good smart people on Central. They're from different places, but that doesn't mean anything," she said. "They should tap them, and ask them questions. They'd be surprised."

Capital Kidzwear is located at 204 Washington Avenue in Albany, 462-2791. www.capitalkidzwear.com The store carries clothing, shoes, and accessories for boys and girls, ages ranging from infant to teen.

NABA Day--by Mayoral Proclamation: NABA Celebrates 100th Anniversary

This year, the Northeastern Association of the Blind at Albany is celebrating its diamond anniversary. The non-profit organization has offered services and programs to the blind and vision-impaired in the Capital District for the last 100 years.

Today, Mayor Jerry Jennings celebrated the organization's anniversary with a proclamation, designating the day as NABA Day. The mayor and media crews were on hand to help celebrate the association's accomplishments. The festivities included a speech by the mayor, and punch and cake provided by Crisan Bakery.

Executive Director Chris Burke read congratulatory letters from President George W. Bush, NYS Governor David Paterson, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Jennings also offered his thanks and congratulations, saying Albany is fortunate to have NABA, and to celebrate the "camraderie and friendships" built there over the last 100 years. To show his appreciation, Burke presented the mayor with a safety vest sewn at NABA's manufacturing center. The vest was emblazoned with the word "Mayor."

Afterwards, a tour was taken through the center and the Harry M. Judge Vision Rehabilitation Center, which opened in 2006 to help clients with diminishing vision. Clients with visual impairments are provided with a variety of tools, including magnifying televisions, check registers, talking watches, and canes.

Begun as a program that offered craft workshops and dances, NABA has expanded to a full-scale service organization with a variety of programs and employment. The center provides employment for 95, 45 of whom are legally blind. Many work at the center's industrial sewing facility. There, these men and women manufacture and ship 70,000 safety vests a year, said Brooke Newell, Director of Development for NABA. The industrial sewing operation gives these men and women independence and satisfaction that comes with a job and earning a regular paycheck, she said. NABA currently manufactures uniforms for MTA, and NYS, and hopes to expand operations this year, she said.

The anniversary celebrations also included a gala event and silent auction at the Albany Institute of History and Art on December 4. The show featured the work of the Blind Artist's Society, a collective of 25 artists coping with vision loss. The exhibit was the group's first official show. The event was attended by about 180 guests, and judged very successful, said Newell.

NABA began on December 7, 1908, when 10 blind men and women got together to offer social and workshop activities. The organization was housed at 105 Lancaster Street. To raise money to support the organization and offer employment for the blind, the members began to manufacture goods, a practice that continues today. In 1923, the organization moved to State Street, and then in 1958, moved to their present location at 301 Washington Avenue, across the street from the YMCA.

Today, NABA offers programs that cater to every age group. They provide free vision screening for toddlers, summer training programs for grade school age-children, internship programs for teens, employment training and transition programs to help high school students move into adulthood, vocational counseling for adults, and training for seniors to help them learn to use canes, magnifying glasses and special software.

Honest Weight Solicits Help to Make Dream Store a Reality

Honest Weight Food Co-Op, a member-owned grocery and natural foods store on Central Avenue, is reaching out to the community, and asking for help to build a new store on Watervliet Avenue. The co-op is soliciting $2 million in private loans from shareholders to help make the new dream store a reality.

The co-op would like to raise as much as possible through shareholder loans, so that they can rely less on loans from financial institutions with all their attendant costs. According to the store's facilities committee, other cooperatives have had great success borrowing money from their shareholders.

According to the pamphlet sent to shareholders, loans must be in a minimum of $1,000, and interest on a loan for up to $10,000 will be 1-4% and 1-6% on loans for $10,000 or more.

Currently cramped for space at its location at 484 Central Avenue, the co-op bought a under-utilized, concrete block building at 100 Watervliet Avenue last fall (pictured above), with plans to renovate it. This fall, they announced plans to tear down the old building to build a new more environmentally sustainable Green building on the site, pushing their move-in date to 2010. The co-op hired 3t architects, and have reviewed designs for the new building. Construction is slated to begin in 2009.

As an interim solution to current space constraints, the store has transformed warehouse space into retail space. They spent the fall reorganizing floor plan to allow for more room and smoother flow of traffic. The produce section has expanded into health and beauty, and health and beauty has moved into the new warehouse space. Likewise, the bulk section and dairy have moved into the new space, to allow more space for canned and packaged goods. The new layout is much more appealing overall, and shoppers have more room to perambulate, without worrying about crashing carts with other shoppers. Their newly expanded orgainic cheese/deli department is the best for miles around.

The new store will be over 18,000 square feet, including a deli and bakery, a juice and coffee bar, and a teaching kitchen, and expanded parking facilities. This new construction project is also looking to meet high LEED standards.

Security Supply doubles facilities on Central

Security Supply, a regional heating and plumbing supply business, has doubled the size of their retail space on Central Avenue.

Security Supply purchased the building next door to their location at 475 Central, which was previously owned by PHAC Products, Inc. After knocking down the PHAC building, they built a brand new showroom and office space. The showroom will offer additional space to showcase their tubs, showers and sinks, with large windows right on Central to beckon customers in. Security Supply's old showroom will become a training facility.

Security spent the fall constructing the new building, and is currently completing the interior finishing. Work is expected to be completed this summer.

Security Supply has been in business for 75 years. They have 11 locations in the region.