Author: Opal Jessica Bogdan

SARATOGA SPRINGS — While meetings, interviews and contact all moved online and over the phone, one fitness center aimed to move their workouts to members at home.

The strength studio called Evolution Strength and Performance announced an on-demand online portal with recorded videos on strength training, condition, core and mobility. The on-demand training concept allows Evolution members to still meet up and workout through the internet.

“This is a first…it was a goal of ours. We were going do it a year from now and we kind of had the foresight to look at what was happening and decided it was something we should do sooner rather than later,” Chris Abbott, owner of the studio, said. 

Abbott said about a week before businesses closed down, the studio filmed for five days to capture video and start the online training program. Since then, the program has evolved to include classes Monday through Saturday that members can participate in.

“We are really big on community at Evolution and so initially, we started off with pre-recording coaches doing the workouts that we make for everyone else,” Abbott said. “We’re always trying to make our products better so as time went on, we decided that these were great, but we were missing the community aspect of it so we decided to start doing some live stream workouts,” Abbott said. 

The 150 members can log into Zoom, a video communication service, and do the workout with five coaches.  Abbott said he has been opening the training sessions earlier so people can join in and chat, just like they would in class. 

“It’s that way to get a little bit of more of that community feel even though we’re not with each other,” Abbott said. 

The workout is recorded so if members don’t join in live they are able to follow the training session after. Each video is posted on their online portal so members can focus on what workout they want. 

Lindsay Cruz, coach at Evolution, said online classes became an idea after trying to figure out a way to train everyone in Saratoga, if they wanted to. 

“Over a year ago we were all sitting down and [Abbott] brought to us the question: if everyone in Saratoga wanted to train with us, how would we deal with that? I think that’s where the whole thought process began. How could we help everybody and if we had the opportunity to, how could we do it,” Cruz said. 

Cruz joined Evolution when it first opened as a member, and now as a trainer. Currently the online classes are only available for members, but Abbott said moving forward they hope to expand to anyone who has a kettlebell at home. 

Abbott created the studio in July 2017 through a love of kettlebells. A kettlebell is a cast iron or steel ball with a handle attached to the top. Abbott said he loves the kettlebell because it’s one tool for a workout. He said just like a spin bike, members could come in, grab a kettlebell and have a great workout. 

“Knowing that our tool could be used anywhere was always something that was in the back of our heads,” Abbott said. 

Despite having a one-tool workout, safety and proper form is something Cruz said is a priority of the studio. Even though the studio moved workouts online, Cruz said members could still get one-on-one coaching time through Zoom. 

“We can critique some technique on Zoom or we have members sending us videos, so there is that one on one personal feel of a coach even through the live workout,” Cruz said.

MALTA — Finishing Touches Home Decor announced shutting their doors on their current store to open a new location on Route 9 in Malta.

After being open for five years, owner of Finishing Touches, Shelly Walker, said they felt tucked away in their old location and wanted to move to an easier accessed location. 

“It’s very exciting and we’re doing renovations right now,” Walker said. 

Walker said they plan to open doors early spring with a new look to the store. She said the new store would host a more modern and vintage looks compared to what they have now. Currently they have a selection of modern furniture and items upstairs, while they offer an Adirondack and rustic look downstairs.

“We’re going to have a large focus on products that are made in the USA,” Walker said. “Handmade and locally made items.”

Gift bags and sets for birthdays will also be offered at the new location. Walker described it as a one-stop-shop, where customers can pick out a gift box, get it wrapped and even pick out a card.

“It’s a little bit different than what we have here now,” Walker said.

However different, Walker said they still plan to sell furniture, lamps and interior design details. Since the new location has a plethora of windows, Walker plans to stain each trim with a different treatment so customers can come in and see what the actual trim would look like. 

“We do a lot of window treatments, shades, shutters and custom draperies,” Walker said. “We used to have to show what it would look like in pictures, but now they can come in and see in person what it looks like.”

Walker also added that she and her husband, Doug Walker, have a surprise planned for the new location, but plans to release that at a later date.

“There is a little section of the store we want to have it,” Walker said. “He has always wanted to do this and it’s another reason to bring people there.”

Starting this week, Dollar General is encouraging the first hour of operation each day to be dedicated for the shopping needs of senior customers. Market 32 starting March 19 will pre-open exclusively to seniors from 6 a.m. to 7 a.m.

Dollar General wants to provide these at-risk customers with the ability to purchase the items they need and want at the beginning of each day to avoid busier and more crowded shopping periods, according to their release. Market 32 President Scott Grimmett reflected similar ideas and announced the stores will close at 10 p.m. and re-open at 7 a.m. to help restock products and preventative sanitation. Dollar General will also close an hour earlier to allow employees to clean and restock shelves.

“In keeping with our mission and our ongoing commitment to serve our communities, we are dedicating the first hour of each day to seniors.  We appreciate our customers’ understanding of our decision and request they visit our stores later in the morning to allow at-risk populations the ability to purchase the items they need at affordable prices,” said Todd Vasos, Dollar General’s CEO. 

“Despite the fact that some high in demand products are more difficult to keep in stock than others, I assure you that the food supply is not in jeopardy and that we are committed to providing the highest possible level of service,” Grimmett said.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — In honor of World Water Day, Artisanal Brew Works will release a limited-edition beer on March 22.

World Water Day highlights the importance of freshwater, showing the connection between water and climate change. The goal is to bring awareness of how to use water more efficiently and adapting to those habits.

Artisanal Brew Works partnered with Saratoga PLAN, Preserving Land and Nature, to create a one of a kind beer that’s only available for a limited time. Owner of Artisanal Kurt Borchardt said he’s excited about the fundraiser. 

“We like to do that kind of stuff,” Borchardt said. 

The beer, named the World Water Day IPA will be offered until the single batch runs out. He said a portion of proceeds would go to support Saratoga PLAN. 

“Our intention with this collaboration is to bring awareness to the community by connecting the dots between water conservation and all of the systems that rely on it, not just nature,” said Alex Fylypovych, PLAN’s Community Engagement Manager in a press release.

As a brewery that focuses on achieving unique flavors in beer, Borchardt stepped up to create the IPA. He added that in early summer, another beer would be released to donate to the Saratoga Auto Museum. 

The brewery opened in July 2016 as a New York State Farm Brewery, meaning 90 percent of raw materials came from NYS farmers. However Borchardt said grain was becoming expensive, they were limited on hop choices and they didn’t want to pass cost to the customers. 

“They love the idea of local but then they look at the price and ask why it’s so expensive,” Borchardt said. “It was really hard to compete like that and we wanted to make certain styles of beer, so directionally we changed our focus from being exclusively a farm brewery to a dual license.”

The brewery is still certified as a NYS Farm Brewery, so each year the brewery has to use a certain amount of farm materials. In addition, the brewery also has a microbrew license, which is what more breweries have. 

“Once we did that we started ramping up our creativity because we weren’t constrained by ingredients anymore,” Borchardt said. “That [license] allows me to use ingredients form all over the world.” 

The brewery now aims to target unique flavors in the beers they create, like a chocolate caramel truffle stout, and figure out what ingredients they can use to achieve that. He said they perpetually try different hops, water chemistry and different grains to achieve a specific flavor. 

“I like the fact that were not static and were flexible in a lot of different ways. Clearly the different beer styles we make are reflective of that,” Borchardt said. 

He added that over the winter, he focused on creating sour beers. He said most sours give an off flavor that he didn’t enjoy, so he focused on eliminating that over the winter until he figured it out.