Crain's New York - March 18, 2013 - (Page 27)

SMALL BUSINESS For owners, getting away is hard work BY CARA S. TRAGER F or Richard Aviles, the president of a drycleaning mini-empire, getting away doesn’t necessarily mean getting away from it all. After forgoing a vacation in 2012, Mr. Aviles earlier this year tacked on three vacation days to a trip to Cancún for an industry convention, and a business meeting in Colombia culminated in a two-day getaway in Bogotá. In both instances, he not only packed his mobile phone but spent about an hour each morning reading and responding to email. “Part of the reason I could leave for two separate weeks in two months is that I have a manager in place, and in case of an emergency, he had my cell number,” said Mr. Aviles, whose profitable operation includes two shops,Bridge Cleaners & Tailors in Brooklyn and King Garment Care in Manhattan, and a plant in the Brooklyn Navy Yard that required a major overhaul because of Sandy-inflicted flooding. Given the relentless competition many entrepreneurs face in New York and the high cost of doing business here,it’s never been easy for them to join their corporate counterparts in planning summer vacations this time of year. Those with small teams don’t always have a reliable second-in-command who can keep the business humming, and owners may also need to schedule their own trips around employees’ paid vacations. Factors like economic uncertainty in recent years and Hurricane Sandy, which interrupted business for many firms, have made getting away even more challenging. Fewer skipped vacations But there are signs that vacations are on the ascent among small business owners. The Citibank Small Business Pulse survey, for instance, found that 47% of small business owners polled took a vacation in the summer of 2012, compared with the CLEAN BREAK: King Garment Care owner Richard Aviles made time for two short vacations this year. 65% who reported that they “missed vacations” in the past few years in an earlier 2012 survey by the bank.The trend is expected to continue, according to Citibank. Of course, vacations are not work-free for many owners. While on vacation last summer, 58% of respondents checked emails and voicemail, while 16% worked the same as usual—just remotely. “They travel away but don’t get away,” said Jerome Byers, Citibank’s buck ennis Entrepreneurs are finally starting to take vacations again—but many can’t unplug out being plugged in and having wireless access and Skype,” said Mr. Blinderman. “Being plugged in made it more relaxing, as I was able to assure myself that nothing catastrophic was occurring at the restaurants and to respond to anything that required my attention while away.” Both restaurants were closed for a week because of Sandy but generated combined revenue of more than $6 million last year. Chicago-based U.S. head of small business. Earlier this year, Eric Blinderman,a Proskauer Rose attorney who owns two profitable, upscale restaurants in the West Village, Mas (La Grillade) and Mas (Farmhouse), brought along his cellphone and laptop for his nine-day trip to Japan, which included a one-day stopover in Hawaii. It was his first vacation since 2008. “I would not have traveled with- bloomberg news Continued from Page 1 CROSSTOWN RIVALS: Barclays would love to get the game. Madison Square Garden “just really doesn’t want to lose it to Brooklyn,” a source said. Prokhorov, the Russian oil playboy who ran for president of Russia in 2012. “You really wouldn’t want to bet against either of these guys,” said Marc Ganis, president of SportsCorp, a Chicago-based sports business consulting firm.“James Dolan’s reputation is well known. And Prokhorov wanted to run one of the largest nations on the planet.” Opposing arguments People involved in the All-Star efforts are staying tight-lipped. Representatives for the Barclays Center, MSG and the NBA CORRECTIONS The Wall Street “Then and Now” chart on page 20 of the March 11 issue wrongly transposed the numbers measuring New York’s share of global electronic trading volume. The chart should say 45% market share for New York’s exchanges in 2008, when Bear Stearns collapsed, and 48% in 2012. New York City Councilman Stephen Levin’s Brooklyn district includes Greenpoint, Williamsburg and Park Slope. The neighborhoods he represents were misstated in the March 11 “A tight lid on food artisanals.” Leonard Stekol was promoted to executive vice president and will continue as chief financial officer at Ridgewood Savings Bank. That information was misstated in the March 11 Executive Moves. declined to comment. But observers of the competition say that the Knicks are likely to highlight Madison Square Garden’s proximity to Penn Station and hotels and other venues for the high-profile parties thrown by celebrities—and its reputation as the mecca of the NBA. The Nets, meanwhile, are likely to argue their own compelling narrative: that their arena is new, not simply refurbished, and that Brooklyn itself is a hot destination whose native son, hip-hop mogul Jay-Z, is also a part-owner of the team. The teams will make formal presentations soon to the NBA to land the game, and the decision—which may be be made by August—will ultimately rest with NBA Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver, who is replacing Commissioner David Stern when Mr. Stern retires next year. Already, labor politics that would seem unrelated to a mere basketball To sign up for Crain’s SMALL BUSINESS newsletter, go to www.crainsnewyork.com/smallbiz. Communications Workers and Barclays are all clients of the same public-relations firm, BerlinRosen. That could create something of an informal alliance that could amplify Brooklyn’s lobbying as the decision nears. Sources close to the union efforts insist they are entirely separate from those on behalf of the other clients, including Barclays. Arena rivals vie for 2015 NBA All-Star Game active arena in the city and is undergoing a $1 billion renovation. The other is the new kid on the block: The Barclays Center opened late last year in downtown Brooklyn and is home court for the Nets, who moved from New Jersey before the current season. It, too, cost $1 billion. Typically, the NBA holds AllStar Games at newer venues to highlight them—a criterion either facility could meet. The stakes are higher in this case: Whichever venue loses out is unlikely to have another opportunity to host the game for several years because the league would be unlikely to come back to the city anytime soon, sports experts have said. The economic consequences of landing the game are likely to be modest for the winning arena and New York City, which has a GDP of $1.3 trillion. Last year’s All-Star Game in Orlando generated $95 million, according to a study by Strategic Marketing Services and Sports Economics. Instead, the game would serve as something of a feather in the cap for one of two moguls with major egos: the Knicks’ cable magnate, James Dolan, and the Nets’ Mikhail Energy boost For founders of startups, it can be tougher to escape. Grant Hewit, president of Hudson Sutler, a Hell’s Kitchen-based men’s accessories company, hasn’t had a vacation since launching the firm 15 months ago. When planning for a five-day trip starting March 12 to the Turks and Caicos, he intended to pack his cellphone and check email once a day. He also expected to leave instructions with the firm’s vice president about handling an upcoming photo shoot. “I need to recharge my batteries,” said Mr. Hewit, whose firm has yet to reach profitability and generated nearly $100,000 in revenue last year. Ⅲ game are infusing the jockeying. The Communications Workers of America, for instance, is planning to launch a large-scale campaign in the coming weeks meant to persuade the NBA to hold the game at the Barclays Center, according to a source working on the efforts. The stated reason is that the union is in a labor dispute with Cablevision, which, like MSG, is owned by Mr. Dolan—and the game is seen by the union as a pressure point. The campaign is expected to highlight the fact that most of the 22 Cablevision workers recently fired by Mr. Dolan’s company were AfricanAmerican, which could be a sensitive issue for the NBA. Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, a leading Democratic mayoral candidate and a Brooklyn resident, has already written a letter to Mr. Stern calling for the game to be held at Barclays because of Mr. Dolan’s treatment of the union workers. Interestingly, Mr. de Blasio, the Labor politics Meanwhile, another labor dispute recently pitted Barclays against MSG. In late February, a faction of 131 part-time “conversion crew” workers at the Brooklyn arena led an insurrection against their current union, 32 BJ, arguing that full-time workers at Madison Square Garden enjoyed better benefits. The union representing the MSG workers, the New York City District Council of Carpenters, expressed interest in taking the Barclays employees into their ranks. Though a vote that was an initial step toward that fell short, the carpenters haven’t given up their public fight. They’ve staked a giant inflatable rat outside Barclays to protest. Union Political Director Steve McInnis said the efforts had nothing to do with the inter-arena rivalry. “Even I’m not good enough to pull off something like that,” Mr. McInnis said. Regardless of how the politics play out, the tension has become part of the speculation that both arenas are jockeying hard for an AllStar slam dunk. “The talk around the league is that the Barclays Center very much wants the game,” said Mr. Ganis, the consultant, “and MSG just really doesn’t want to lose it to Brooklyn.” Ⅲ March 18, 2013 | Crain’s New York Business | 27 http://www.crainsnewyork.com/smallbiz

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Crain's New York - March 18, 2013

IN THE BOROUGHS
IN THE MARKETS
THE INSIDER
BUSINESS PEOPLE
OPINION
STEVE HINDY
GREG DAVID
REPORT: REAL ESTATE
real estate deals
THE LIST
FOR THE RECORD
CLASSIFIEDS
SMALL BUSINESS
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
SOURCE LUNCH
OUT AND ABOUT
SNAPS

Crain's New York - March 18, 2013