New Business Translates into Growth and Opportunities

When businesses move into a new area, it usually means they see opportunities for growth in the area. The businesses benefit from increased revenues and profits while the neighborhoods benefit from new jobs, increased tax revenues, and general economic growth. Over the past few weeks, there has been quite a bit of activity of new businesses looking to either move into Long Island or expand their presence here. This is good news considering that both companies and residents leaving Long Island has been a common topic recently. EisnerAmper discussed this in his recent blog postings “Leaving Long Island”  and “Voxx International Announces a Move to Florida”.

Stew Leonard’s announced plans on February 10 to build its first store on Long Island, in Kimco Realty Corp.’s Airport Plaza shopping center in Farmingdale, NY. The family-owned and operated grocery store chain currently operates four supermarkets in Connecticut and New York. Stew Leonard’s was included for ten consecutive years on FORTUNE magazine's "100 Best Companies to Work for" list, beginning in 2002. The company press release indicated that once opened, the 60,000 square foot store will provide up to 400 jobs, a significant portion of which will be fulltime. Furthermore, in contrast to traditional grocery stores which can carry tens of thousands of various items, the press release mentions that each Stew Leonard’s store carries only 2,200 items which are each chosen for freshness, quality, and value.

Noodles & Company, a fast-casual restaurant chain, is planning to open in four locations on Long Island this year (Farmingdale, Garden City Park, Hicksville, and Patchogue). It opened its first location on Long Island in 2013 at the Gallery at Westbury Plaza and good reception from the community has caused it to expand to other locations. The locations are expected to provide jobs to approximately 160 people.

PA-based Customers Bank recently leased office space in Melville for the bank’s first lending office on Long Island. The bank’s target market consists of small and medium-sized businesses, professionals, individuals and families. Kevin Gallagher, the bank’s SBA national director, was quoted as saying that the bank is looking to help local business owners grow as well as create jobs in the local marketplace.

Lastly, a major recent development that is expected to provide many opportunities in the future is the recent dedication of the $912 million National Synchrotron Light Source II facility at the Brookhaven National Laboratory. The government-funded facility produces a variety of beams of light to examine various minerals. The research capabilities are expected to accelerate advances in energy, environmental science, and medicine. The facility will be able to support thousands of scientific users each year. Senator Charles Schumer was quoted as saying that as more research is done here on Long Island, great jobs will be created. Having one of the best facilities will serve to attract scientists and companies operating in growth industries such as life sciences will want to come here. This will result in jobs being created; jobs which will fuel the growth of Long Island into the future.