Lockport Union-Sun & Journal Online Business

Vendors sought for Canal Street market

2012-05-17T19:10:45-04:00

Vendor applications are now available for the 2012 Lockport Community Market, an open-air market to be open Saturdays in July and August on Canal Street.

The goal of the market is to provide a venue for area businesses, farmers, merchants and artisans to showcase their wares, and show the depth and variety of Lockport's business community, according to organizer Heather Peck, program manager of Lockport Main Street Inc.

A matter of survival?

2012-04-19T09:44:29-04:00

That mammoth electric generating station on Lake Road? It ain’t the cash cow it used to be.

The coal-fired power plant formerly known as AES Somerset faces liquidation if a proposed deal to recharge it, through investment, tax relief and payroll slashing, doesn’t pass muster with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware.

Wishes granted

2012-04-10T00:05:01-04:00

Nine established downtown-area businesses and six new businesses earned funds totalling $180,000 from the State Office of Community Renewal on Monday.

Mayor Michael Tucker, Sen. George Maziarz and Charles Bell of the Greater Lockport Development Corporation made the announcement in front of Micrographics at 36-B Main St. as several of the grant winners gathered and smiled in the breeze.

Rescuing the ruins

2012-04-09T00:37:00-04:00

Greater Lockport Development Corporation will work with a local business that’s aiming to preserve historic industrial ruins downtown.

The GLDC board of directors this week approved a memorandum of agreement with Hydraulic Race Corporation, owner of the Lockport Cave and Underground Boat Ride tour, stating the agency will act as a “pass through” entity in the event HRC lands state grants to stabilize the Holly and Richmond Manufacturing ruins.

First Niagara gets into auto lending

2012-03-29T00:04:49-04:00

First Niagara’s latest expansion is now into the indirect auto lending business.

The company announced Wednesday it will provide a variety of vehicle financing options through dealerships scattered throughout the northeast. More than 400 have already signed on and First Niagara expects that number to grow to 1,500 by 2014.

Claytown pieces available at Clarence pottery shop

2012-03-20T20:44:31-04:00

Former Clay Town customers who left behind finished pottery pieces can still retrieve the pieces from a Clarence-based pottery shop.
Marie Sperrazza, owner of Clay Hands Pottery, 10086 Main St., Clarence, is holding upwards of 100 finished pieces by Clay Town customers who never retrieved them after the Robinson Road, Lockport, paint-your-own-pottery studio closed.

Unpaid billions

2011-10-24T17:35:14-04:00

A growing chorus of bricks-and-mortar small businesses are protesting what they see as tax law inequities driving them to the brink by requiring they collect and remit sales taxes while their electronic counterparts prosper through tax-free goods and services.

Hoagie Brothers is back at Taste

2011-08-19T01:10:45-04:00

Hoagie Brothers has some faithful followers. And the restaurant is hoping to see some of those followers on Sunday.
Duane and Sharon Behm of Lockport say they stop by the South Transit Road submarine and pizza shop frequently. They conservatively estimate about 10 trips a week to Hoagie Bros., not including the times they stop by with visitors. The Behms like to tell as many as possible to come by for a bite.
“We tell people all the time,” Duane said. “It’s excellent, the best subs.”

Good Karma

2011-03-04T00:28:01-05:00

There’s a lot of good stuff at Cafe Karma, a new specialty sandwich and coffee shop now open on Main Street.
Located at 21 Main St. in the Lockview Plaza, the shop was formerly The Daily Grind, a coffee shop that had been there since it opened in 2006. Co-owners John Verbocy and Dennis Farley opened Cafe Karma about three weeks ago. So far the response has been good.
“It has been amazing,” Farley, a Newfane native, said.

Duffy headlining annual Chamber of Commerce gala

2011-02-18T18:05:55-05:00

New York State Lieutenant Governor Robert Duffy will be the keynote speaker at the Niagara USA Chamber of Commerce’s annual Honors dinner next week.