GLENS FALLS BUSINESS JOURNAL • JANUARY 2026 • 1
GBJ 9 Broad Street #7 Glens Falls, NY 12801
GLENS FALLS BUSINESS JOURNAL
VOL. 38 NO. 03
www.glensfallsbusinessjournal.com
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MAY 2026
Garvey Kia Opens State Of The Art Glens Falls Pursues Parking Reforms Dealership On Quaker Road In Queensbury And Development Initiatives Downtown
Garvey Kia’s new 25,000-square-foot dealership on Quaker Road in Queensbury includes expanded sales and service areas, with rows of new vehicles shown outside the recently opened facility there. BY PAUL POST Garvey Kia is scheduled to move into its new state-of-the-art dealership on Wednesday, May 20 followed by a grand opening celebration with area dignitaries in June. The 25,000-square-foot, two-story building is adjacent to the firm’s former site at 483 Quaker Road, which continues as a Volkswagen dealership with future remodeling plans. Kia generates approximately 65 percent of the company’s revenue. “It was really a business need,” owner and President J.P. Garvey said. “We were selling so many cars next door that we had to expand. It’s the biggest, best and most technologically modern dealership in the North Country. Kia had a really big role in the design process, but a lot of the details were up to us. Every day there were a hundred decisions
Courtesy Garvey Kia
that had to be made.” Garvey is the only Kia dealership between Albany and Plattsburgh, and its market includes most of central Vermont, too. The new building has a variety of unique features, from environmentally sustainable elements and a spacious customer lounge to a top-of-theline network computer system and employee amenities such as a shower, secure locker room and full-service break room and kitchen area. Garvey declined to cite the building’s cost, but a rooftop solar panel system alone cost nearly $1 million. Some auto dealers burn waste oil to heat their shops in winter. “We have a waste oil boiler that converts waste oil into radiant heat to heat the shop, service drive Continued On Page 12
Glens Falls Mayor Diana Palmer speaks at Heritage Hall in Harding Mazzotti Arena, where she outlined downtown parking reforms and development initiatives during her first 100 days in office. BY PAUL POST From a new planning and zoning department to downtown parking initiatives, Glens Falls is pursuing steps large and small to attract business and promote economic development. Mayor Diana Palmer outlined those steps during a recent wide-ranging speech covering her first 100 days in office at Heritage Hall in Harding Mazzotti Arena. “Being mayor of a small city is about solving problems,” she said. “At any given time, there will be new problems that need careful thought and solutions. The beginning of my administration was no exception. In January, we confronted a number of ongoing problems, and I am proud of the progress my administration has made on all of them.” One of the most significant items she dis-
Courtesy Paul Post
cussed was a proposed transfer of operations and sale of the city’s Fire Road ice rink, near the YMCA, to the Adirondack Youth Hockey Association. The facility was temporarily closed last year because glycol leaked from its cooling system. The situation was managed, but the city is still seeking a long-term solution. Palmer said AYHA will assume responsibility for the remediation, removing the risk of such costs — possibly millions of dollars — from the city. The move would also save the city budget about $250,000. Three high school teams call the rink home, and it hosts numerous youth hockey events, often with teams from outside the area, benefiting local hotels, restaurants and many small Continued On Page 12
Siena Poll Shows Two-Thirds Of New Scratch Kitchen Moves to Ridge Street, Yorkers Use AI Chatbots, Use Rising Yearly Plans Dinner Service and Liquor License Forty-three percent of New York state residents say the disadvantages of artificial intelligence are too great, while 37% say the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, according to a Siena Poll released April 14, 2026. Nearly 1 in 5 respondents, 19%, said they do not know whether the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. Two-thirds of New Yorkers, 67%, said they use AI chatbots, while 32% said they have never used an AI chatbot. Forty-four percent said they use AI at least weekly, including 21% who said they use it daily. Compared with last year, 48% said they are using AI tools more, 39% said their use is about the same and 8% said their use has decreased. Among those who use AI chatbots, 41% said they use them mostly for personal reasons, 24% mostly for professional reasons and 32% equally for both. More than half of users, 56%, said they double-check AI results always or most of the time. Twenty percent said they pay for an AI chatbot subscription. Among New Yorkers who use AI chatbots at least weekly, 28% said they pay for a premium subscription, compared with 5% of those who use chatbots infrequently. Across users, ChatGPT was the tool used most often, followed by Gemini and Copilot.
Nearly 9 in 10 residents, 92%, said they have seen content in the last 30 days that appeared to be generated by AI. Thirty-five percent said they trust results from a traditional search engine more than information provided by an AI chatbot, while 8% said they trust AI results more. Twentyeight percent said they trust both equally and 23% said they trust neither. “Four years after ChatGPT was released to the public, AI is creeping into everyday life, whether you use a dedicated chatbot app or website, or use AI features embedded in other spaces. Almost every New Yorker, regardless of background, encounters AI-generated content,” Associate Director of Data Management Travis Brodbeck said. “Like various forms of emerging technology, we see gaps in behaviors and attitudes between the youngest and oldest New Yorkers. These age-related differences risk creating a new element to the ‘digital divide’ where the ability to discern AI content and use AI tools is a new skill required in the digital age.” The Siena University Poll was conducted March 3-14, 2026, among 810 New York state residents. It has an overall margin of error of plus or minus 3.6 percentage points. Survey cross-tabs are available at sri.siena.edu. Provided by Siena Research Institute (SRI); edited for style and length.
Editor’s Note: This article was published May 14. Scratch Kitchen announced its new 21 Ridge St. location would open May 18. BY CAROL ANN CONOVER After two years building a loyal following out of a compact cafe on Warren Street, Scratch Kitchen owner and executive chef Denver Semon is trading her 12-seat dining room for a 70-seat space at 21 Ridge St., putting her squarely in the middle of what she calls a growing restaurant hub in downtown Glens Falls. The move, approved by the Glens Falls Planning Board earlier this year, marks a significant step for a chef who has spent more than two decades at the stoves of some of the region’s most recognized kitchens, including The Sagamore, the Aviator Restaurant in Queensbury and Flight Wine Bar & Restaurant in Glens Falls, before striking out on her own in the spring of 2024. “I’ve wanted to open my own place for a long time, but it, you know, financially it wasn’t feasible or, you know, many reasons,” Semon said. “It’s scary to get into the restaurant business. It’s a lot, a lot of overhead and not a lot of rewards sometimes. But I’m just like, if I’m gonna work that hard, I think I’m going to do it for myself.” The Warren Street location, while beloved, imposed hard limits. With seating for roughly a dozen and a kitchen built for one, Semon couldn’t accommodate the volume her growing customer base demanded. “I have such a small kitchen. It was really only, only me. So it made it difficult. We couldn’t do
Denver Semon, left, and manager Nicki Loiselle sit inside Scratch Kitchen on Ridge Street. Glens Falls Business Journal
the business that we wanted to do,” she said. “So, I knew after two years we were going to have to find something larger, which is an awesome, awesome problem.” The new Ridge Street location had served as a restaurant for most of its history. Previous Continued On Page 10