If you thought a sidewalk sale and tree-lighting ceremony had nothing to do with business, you don”™t know Mount Kisco.
Community events are the lifeblood of the village.
On Dec. 3, there was a community tree-lighting, said Vincent Lemma, president of the Mount Kisco Chamber of Commerce. “There are cookies and hot chocolate after. It”™s so central that you can park in the middle of town and hit all different kinds of stores.”
Barely a year on the job, Lemma spends his spare time serving as an insurance broker at Antalek & Moore Insurance Agency in Mount Kisco, Beacon and Hopewell Junction.
Attracting new members to join and partake in chamber life is high on his list of priorities.
“Our member base has probably grown to about 140,” he said. “It”™s been kind of stagnant. Some people have gone out of business, but new people have come on, and we want to reach out to retail businesses more. We do have a fair share that are members already, but there are many that aren”™t. We want to facilitate that and get more business.”
Chamber outreach
Lemma said Mayor Michael Cindrich has been urging the chamber to host meetings to open up a dialogue for tenants that call Mount Kisco home.
“He wants to know, ”˜What are the issues?”™” Lemma said. “Traffic, parking ”¦ and how the village can help the merchants. Successful merchants means a successful village. And we have plenty of corporate and plenty of mom-and-pops.”
Beyond the annual tree-lighting drawing hundreds and the September sidewalk sales, the Mount Kisco Chamber of Commerce hosts business-related seminars.
A membership meeting on Nov. 18 focused on employment law, and was led by Mount Kisco law firm Markus & Sheridan L.L.P.; Anthony Markus is a Village of Mount Kisco trustee.
“For the small businesses that don”™t have legal departments, it was about saying, ”˜These are the developments in New York on how employment law is changing and here”™s how to defend yourself,”™” Lemma said.
Retail powerhouse
Mount Kisco is different from many a Westchester village or hamlet in that it plays host to a vibrant downtown ”“ as well as commercial mainstays like Target and Kohl”™s.
Pedestrian friendly paths segue through center village, where residents can pop into a 28-year-old art emporium as effortlessly as they can pick up their favorite Starbucks creation.
But marketing that strength correctly is a must.
“It”™s sort of a resilient market because it is a regional shopping area,” said Jonathan Gordon, president of Admiral Real Estate Services Corp. in Bronxville. “But for some of us, marketing Mount Kisco can be a challenge. When a national retailer runs their demographic analysis, they look at trade areas and say, ”˜There”™s not enough people here to support our store.”™ It”™s any brokers”™ challenge to educate them that they have to expand their trade area significantly because people are coming from Golden”™s Bridge and Yorktown and Katonah. They are driving to Target and they are coming to the downtown for the unique shops.”
The village has seen many new retailers and steady movement over the past year.
The Mount Kisco Athletic Club has plans to move into an available plot of land vacated by the Grand Union Distribution Center up until 2007, when Grand Prix New York moved in, said Joan Simon, a commercial broker with Admiral Real Estate Services.
Simon said owners Saw Mill Club are “opening a newer, bigger facility with more services.”
Simon brokered a 3,200-square-foot transaction for a new A&S Fine Foods near East Main Street and a 1,500-square foot Dunkin”™ Donuts at the intersection of Lexington Avenue and Route-117.
Lemma said restaurant owners from Arthur Avenue in the Bronx will open an Italian restaurant on Main Street early next year.
Flooring Liquidators opened a 6,000-square-foot retail location at 156 N. Bedford Road.
Admiral Real Estate Services represented the landlord of 255 N. Bedford Road in a transaction bringing Wipe Your Paws, a pet grooming and accessory store to the area. Bob Arenholz of Better Homes & Gardens Rand Realty represented the tenant.
