The Turf Club on Union Avenue will begin serving breakfast daily starting at 8 a.m. Saturday, as a collaboration between Beverly Reedy and her son Rob Cone, the restaurant's executive chef. Reedy operated Beverly's Cafe with her other son for more than two decades before closing the Phila Street restaurant earlier this year.

The breakfasts will be similar to those that were offered at Beverly's for 22 years, including homemade quiche, apple butter, scones, cinnamon buns and home-style pancakes, which Reedy tells me are probably the best you'll ever eat. Everything is made from scratch and comes from recipes created by either Rob or Beverly.

The weekend will mark a "grand reopening" of sorts for the Turf Club, as breakfast launches and a new dinner menu is unveiled too, Reedy said.

Breakfast/brunch will be served from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily, and the restaurant will reopen from 5 to 10 p.m. for dinner, and the bar is open until midnight.

There's a new spot in Ballston Spa for social canines. Lazy Dog Cookie Co. is holding a grand opening celebration for its new sPAW CITY Social Club Indoor Dog Park. It's on the second floor of a manufacturing facility at 101 Ford St.
There's off-leash space and on-leash social space, a coffee bar and Wi-Fi and soon to be more space for private parties, trainers and other events. The grand opening will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. on Friday, April 27 at the Ford Street location.

There's also a lighting and design showroom, Two If By Sea gallery, will hold a grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremony in conjunction with the Ballston Spa Business and Professional Association, village Mayor John Romano and showroom owners Gregory and Melissa Tkal, will take part in the event at 7 p.m. May 4 at the gallery, 91 Milton Ave. The lighting and design showroom will feature vintage, reproduction and custom light fixtures. According to a news release sent out by the association, Gregory's work has been featured in films like "The Amistad" and "The Patriot," and his wife, Melissa, is an interior designer.

And here's a little event coming up at Lake Avenue Elementary School in Saratoga Springs, being put on by young students who are apparently braver than me...25 students are going to be involved in a circus act at 7 p.m. Friday, April 27 in the school gym. They participated in a school residency program for a week with Circus Smirkus. Admission costs $1 or 10 BoxTops for Education, and all proceeds benefit the Lake Avenue Parent-Teacher Association.



--Jamie

Something really quick for you: I stopped in over at Elizabeth's Table, which is now open at 510 Broadway. I was told that the owners are really busy (it was right around lunch time when I dropped by, and many of the tables were full) but that they'll be calling me soon. As soon as I hear, I'll fill you in on all the details.
Owners Mike and Liz Phillips closed The Cupcake Lab at 517 Broadway in October to move into the new location with Elizabeth's Table. In the meantime, here's a link to the Elizabeth's Table Facebook page with some photos of the interior of the new space.

--Jamie

Travel + Leisure magazine has named Broadway in Saratoga Springs one of America's Greatest Main Streets. A blurb on the magazine's website says Broadway "looks like a Main Street on steroids, with grand buildings of Beaux-Arts and Colonial Revival styles."
The piece mentions Broadway's benches and outdoor seating at restaurants as being perfect for people-watching, especially during track season and recommends stopping at the Saratoga Spa State Park.
Woodstock, Vermont; Littleton, New Hampshire; and Bath, Maine were other Northeast destinations with Main streets that made the list.

It was also announced today that Sen. Charles Schumer, D-NY, has introduced legislation that would reward small upstate businesses for buying new equipment and hiring new workers. The proposal would allow businesses to receive tax credits equal to 10 percent of new employee salaries to create an incentive for companies to hire. Businesses could also write off 100 percent of expenses related to capital equipment purchases in the coming year.
Here's how it would work: businesses would receive a tax credit for 10 percent of any payroll expansion in 2012, up to $500,000. Schumer's office breaks it down by region:
Capital Region businesses could see an average tax break of $4,013 for each new employee hired, and in the Hudson Valley, businesses could see an average tax break of $4,717 for each employee hired.

--Jamie

Children and newborn photographer Anastasia Sperry has set up shop on Broadway, and will hold a grand opening event from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday. The photography studio is located at 489 Broadway in an upstairs suite. The event this weekend will have a Mad Hatter tea party theme.
Sperry, who used to be a teacher, has always been passionate about photography and has been working as an on-location photographer for several years now, and the studio will allow her to have a base where she can meet with clients.
Sperry signed the lease in November, and spent the winter months getting the studio ready. Here's her website for more information: http://www.anastasiasperryphotography.com/

I also met today with Catherine Hover, who is opening Saratoga Paint & Sip Studio on Henry Street. Hover's studio pairs wine and beer drinking with a painting class led by a local artist, for birthday parties, girls' nights and first dates.
Hover has lived in various metropolises, most recently New Orleans, before moving here with her husband last year. She's heard of other studios popping up and thought the Spa City would be a good location for one with its vibrant downtown and arts scene.
The first adult class will be held on April 26, where class members can recreate Van Gogh's Starry Night. Registration and payment can both be done on the calendar on the studio's website, by clicking on the date or painting you want to try.
There will be children's painting classes held at the studio starting this weekend, but there's no word on what they'll drink in place of wine...

Cheers!

- Jamie

The Best Buy store in Wilton is not on the list of the 50 stores the chain will close by the end of the year, according to a news release put out by the company today.

Best Buy announced earlier this year it would close 50 locations, and had identified eight of the stores. The remaining 42 were announced on Saturday, with the only New York state location on the list coming from NYC.

In addition to the Wilton store, Best Buy has another Capital Region location at Crossgates Mall.

We received an anonymous phone call earlier in the week from someone who said they thought the local store was on the closure list. We checked on it, but Best Buy's corporate spokespeople wouldn't tell us at that time whether or not it was true. And now we know it's not.

--Jamie Munks

Hi there,
We finally have a new business reporter, yay! Jamie Munks joined us from the Post Star last week, so my brief tenure at the helm of this blog is over. She's just getting the hang of her new beat (which combines education and business), but feel free to email tips to jmunks@saratogian.com or leave them in the comments on this blog.

I've got one little news item for you folks, though.
I drove past Coffee Planet this afternoon and was shocked to see the Ballston Spa cafe's windows covered in paper -- I thought they closed! But don't worry, I called right away (when it comes to coffee, seconds count) and was informed that they are only temporarily closed while the cafe undergoes renovations. They expect to reopen April 20. Phew.

Hopefully we'll have some more info on this later and some pics of Coffee Planet's makeover.

Hope you all had a nice weekend,

Emily

Here's a very interesting tidbit Ballston Spa Superintendent Joseph Dragone shared at Wednesday's Board of Education meeting, relating to both education and business in our area:
ABC News' David Muir was in the district's schools on Wednesday, reporting a story on the economy of the region and GlobalFoundries for the network's 'Made in America' series.
Here's what school district spokesman Stuart Williams emailed me Thursday about how schools fit into the story:
"They included filming of our Clean Technologies and Sustainable Industries Early College High School students as part of the piece," Williams wrote.
Muir is a weekend anchor for ABC World News, and reports on the economy in the network's ongoing series.
We haven't been able to determine when the show will air, but we'll be sure to you updated on this as we're able to come up with more information.

Hi everyone - I'm Jamie Munks and I'm the new business and education reporter for The Saratogian. I encourage anyone who wants to get in touch with me to do so with tips, questions, comments, etc., by phone at 583-8729 ext. 219, or by email at jmunks@saratogian.com. I'll look forward to hearing from you!

And now here's some exciting news for those of you who are looking for a new place to work out.

I just spoke to Angela Amedio, who is planning to offer spinning classes at The Saratoga Cycling Studio, slated to open April 30 at 24 Hamilton Street. Spinning, if by chance you haven't heard of it by now, is a popular fitness trend where an instructor leads a class of people who are on stationary bikes through a fun and vigorous workout. It's something Amedio sees a need for in Saratoga Springs.

Amedio will have a staff of six and there will be 20 bikes in the studio. What's different about her studio from big box gyms is that it will be more of a boutique experience, and she won't require people to join or pay initiation fees in order to take classes. You can also sign up for classes online, on their website, which launched today. There's also an open house event scheduled for the new business at 3 p.m. April 28.

Amedio wants to offer a non-intimidating spinning environment, and said people shouldn't be scared about signing up because they think it will be too intense. She's also reached out to the Saratoga Springs school district about getting local children involved because it's a low-impact way to exercise. But that's not the only plus.

"It's good for camaraderie," she said.

--Jamie