For many years, B.C. Gee worked in Manhattan as a menswear”™ designer, living with her husband, Larry Zalinsky, in a loft in the Garment District. When Zalinsky quit his corporate job to start his own luggage design company, she eventually joined him in the business. They developed a lucrative niche in private-label luggage lines for clients like Brooks Brothers and the Museum of Modern Art.
The two diehard New Yorkers were meanwhile tiring of the city, and in 1998, they relocated full-time to Woodstock, where they had a weekend house. In addition to running the luggage design firm, they started an online used-book business, which grew out of Gee”™s avid reading of science fiction and mysteries. It did well until the advent of eBay, which killed them ”“ and left them with a warehouse full of thousands of paperbacks. Intending to start a bookstore as a way to get rid of the books, they bought a dilapidated building in Kingston”™s Rondout, investing almost three-quarters of a million dollars in the renovation.
In 2005, Gee and Zalinsky opened the Mezzanine Bookstore, Café and Wine Bar in the space, with an office in the back for the luggage business, which had continued to grow and evolve. Gee had run a catering firm in New York City between corporate jobs, so the café was a natural fit. In addition to whipping up soups and salads for the lunch menu, she took a course to become a barista and learned about specialty coffees at trade shows.
But business was slow. “Maybe it was too sophisticated for Kingston,” Gee said. True to the pattern, rather than throw in the towel, they changed their business model. In 2006, they replaced the bookstore and wine bar with antiques, contracting with various vendors. Now, they have a steady stream of customers and are working fewer hours.
Gee has a knack of finding new outlets for her boundless energy and an opportunity soon presented itself. The Rondout Business Association (RBA) had been defunct for some years. At the prodding of business neighbor and longtime community activist Nancy Donskoj, Gee was persuaded to become the president. That was in May 2006, and her efforts at resuscitating the organization in the year since have been impressive. Today there are 26 dues-paying members, up from zero, and several festivals are infusing the area with new life.
At first, there was little interest: The businesses didn”™t respond to an initial letter that was sent out. What did impress them was a folk festival that Mezzanine sponsored last fall, which attracted several thousand people. The restaurant owners were pleased by the up tick in business, and a subsequent meeting was held. The result was a decision to host Kingston”™s first Mardi Gras festival. It was thought this would be a good way to bring people to the Rondout in February, which is a dead month.
The event was a resounding success. “Everyone was thrilled we pulled it off,” Gee said. As a result, the Maritime Museum asked for help from the RBA for its annual Shad Festival held last May, which was complemented by sidewalk antiques vendors. Then the owner of a local restaurant said he”™d like an Italian Festival. The last weekend in September, the ghost of the San Gennaro Feast ”“ a Manhattan institution ”“ will descend on Broadway, with the requisite wheel of fortune and metal carts proffering fried dough, sausage and peppers, and Italian ices.
“These festivals bring in thousands of people,” said Gee “It”™s a way for people to discover the area.” She said all three festivals were now fixtures in the annual calendar of events. The RBA is also planning a tree-lighting ceremony and perhaps a concert for “black Friday,” the day after Thanksgiving, with businesses staying open late.
The RBA has also worked in collaboration with the city”™s two other business associations to launch the Art Bus during Kingston”™s First Saturday gallery openings. Staffed with musicians and tour guides, the bus is more than just transport, it”™s an event in itself.
Gee said creating a critical mass of activities is key. Getting businesses to work together to create a marketable image for the area as a destination is also important. The RBA has run a full-page group ad in regional publications that features appealing photos showing the variety of attractions, rather than focusing on single businesses. It also has a Web site, which is linked to the city Web site and has a calendar of events.
“I”™d like to get each festival bigger and better so the new president can pick up and continue,” Gee said, noting her term will expire this winter. She mentions other initiatives: getting grants to keep the streets clean and fix up store facades, creating better signage to steer visitors to attractions, hanging banners. In getting the ball rolling for improving business in the Rondout, Gee has clearly taken a page from her own success in business. “Do what you love,” she said. The other necessary ingredient: “Adapt to change or you die.”
Â
