Business First of Buffalo articles from March 1997

Business First of Buffalo archives from March 1997

Stock cars: the place to go when looking for Mustangs and Model Ts. (Mac's Antique Auto Parts Inc.)(Small Business Profile)(Company Profile)
March 3, 1997... What's going on: Lockport may be a General Motors Corp. city, but when it comes to Mac's, the focus is on Ford. Mac's, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary, is one of the world's largest distributors of antique Ford motor parts, ranging...

Hospital merger would create super system, officials say. (Buffalo General; Millard Fillmore and Children's Hospital of Buffalo, NY)
March 10, 1997... Officials from the three largest hospital systems in Buffalo say the sooner a merger happens, the sooner the community can begin reaping benefits of an efficient, topflight health-care provider. The target date for uniting the once-competing...

Masiello accepts Amherst offer for assistance. (Buffalo, NY, Mayor Anthony Masiello accepts offer from Amherst Industrial Development Agency for brownfield re-development)
March 10, 1997... An economic development and long-term planning olive branch offered by the Amherst Industrial Development Agency could solidify a tumultuous relationship between Buffalo and Amherst. James Allen, Amherst IDA executive director, has made an...

Hot trends: homeowners can get in on the ground floor of heating source. (geothermal systems)(Energy & Environment)
March 10, 1997... When homeowners decide how to heat their homes, the argument usually varies between oil, gas or electric, unless they have a wood or coal stove. The word geothermal rarely enters the discussion. Supporters of geothermal systems are...

After the merger: the four real estate principals made the deal and went right to work. (Stovroff and Herman Inc.; H. Potter Realtors Inc.)(Real Estate & Construction)
March 10, 1997... The face of the local real estate picture changed June 4, the day when Stovroff & Herman Inc. merged with H. Potter Realtors Inc. in a move that married the area's second and third largest residential real estate firms. The result was a new...

1st Person. (Baumann Realtors Inc. president Richard Baumann)(Real Estate & Construction)
March 10, 1997... Richard Baumann is from the old school where a handshake and your word are better than any contract. And in a world where offices put a premium on computers, Baumann works in a paper-friendly downtown office. He wouldn't have it any other way....

Call centers dial into WNY job market. (Western New York)
March 17, 1997... Operators of telephone call-centers are creating an explosion of new jobs the likes of which Western New York has not seen in decades. They come basically from two different sources: * Independent centers run by companies such as Ingram...

Summa cum laude for City Honors. (New York public school)
March 17, 1997... Buffalo high schools first, last on list What a difference a week makes. Buffalo ranked at the bottom of the list last week in Business First's annual assessment York's 100 public school districts. But two Buffalo schools earn top honors...

Buffalo slips in population race with Rochester. (Buffalo-Niagara Falls, NY; Rochester, NY)
March 24, 1997... Gap narrowing between metros, says latest census data Don't look now. Rochester is gaining on us. New U.S. Census Bureau estimates show that the Buffalo-Niagara Falls metropolitan area had about 87,200 residents more than the six-county...

Decline in residencies puts pressure on doctors.
March 24, 1997... Local health-care officials predict more work for doctors and doctor-helpers when a federal program to shrink New York state's supply of medical residents starts this summer. Eight teaching hospitals affiliated with the University at Buffalo...

Dow drops three companies with WNY roots. (Dow Jones Industrial Average; Western New York)
March 24, 1997... For the first time since early this century, the Dow Jones Industrial Average does not include Westinghouse Electric Corp. or Bethlehem Steel Corp. Or Woolworth Corp. Or Texaco Inc. The stocks of three companies that have roots in Western...

No static here. (DAPA Communications Inc.)(Company Profile)
March 24, 1997... Communications company keeps line of success open between Allegany and France Most Fortune 500 companies would strangle someone to have a year mirroring the one DAPA Communications Inc. just had. Sales in 1996 for the maker of panel antennas...

Mayville keeps winter fun spirited with its ice castle.
March 24, 1997... With temperatures in the teens to low 20s and plenty of snow this past President's Day weekend, Chautauqua Lake's annual Ice Castle Extravaganza was an artistic and pleasure-creating success - bringing lots of people together for three days of...

Airfares take tool on WNY. (Western New York)
March 31, 1997... High cost of flying drives off convention Buffalo could have been the host city for the 1998 U.S. Junior Chamber of Commerce's Congress of Outstanding Farmers. But the bid wouldn't fly even with the Greater Buffalo Convention & Visitors...

Falls printer expanding in Wheatfield. (Quantum Graphics' facility in Wheatfield, New York)
March 31, 1997... A Niagara Falls printing firm has plans to expand into Wheatfield and create the first commercial offset web production site in the region. Quantum Graphics, which will keep its Buffalo Avenue plant open, will begin construction on a...

Dealers drive action at auto auction.
March 31, 1997... Every Tuesday in Newstead is showtime at Adesa Auctions. At 10 a.m. a bell sounds. Actors are in place. The curtain rises. Another performance begins. In this theater, the smell is not of grease-paint but of exhaust fumes; the roar is a...

Construction bids take metric route on road projects.
March 31, 1997... The metrics are coming! The metrics are coming! As the stuttering drive plods forward to convert the United States to the standard used by most nations, federal- and state-funded bridges and highways have become the latest inroad for metrics...

Marine delaying expansion until opportunity is right. (Marine Midland Bank)
March 31, 1997... Marine Midland Bank, having completed two major acquisitions in four months, will make no more forays into expansion this year. But in 1998, President and CEO James Cleave says, the Buffalo-based bank expects to be back in the hunt. Cleave...

Trades council takes aim on non-union contractors. (Buffalo Building and Construction Trades Council)
March 31, 1997... The strained relations between the Buffalo Building and Construction Trades Council and area non-union general contractors may be further stretched by the latest organizing efforts of the trades council. At issue is a letter sent earlier this...

Managed care mandated for Medicaid recipients.
March 31, 1997... Six Western New York counties have been given federal go-ahead to begin the mandatory enrollment of Medicaid recipients. The local counties - Erie, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Genesee, Niagara and Orleans - are among 31 upstate counties to receive...

Sabres hope price is right for new ticket packages. (Buffalo Sabres)(includes related article on promotions for season ticket purchases)
March 31, 1997... The Sabres asked and nearly half of their season ticket base told the club what they thought about year one in Marine Midland Arena. And when the customer speaks... "We did a lot of feedback work from our fan base," said Sabres' President...

Dakota Grill serves up musical theme. (Dakota Grill Restaurant)
March 31, 1997... Expansion and growth mean different things to different people. For some restaurant owners, it means adding square footage or opening additional locations. At the Dakota Grill in Amherst, it has meant diversification. The restaurant, owned...

Credit unions get high-level attention.
March 31, 1997... The war between banks and credit unions is moving forward on two fronts: Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court. And that pleases both sides, even though neither Congress nor the Supreme Court is expected to resolve whether federal occupational...

Country home. (Quaker Country Home Inc.)
March 31, 1997... Husband and wife work their dream in a furniture-gift store What's going on: Quaker Country Home is the Buffalo-area dealer for Yield House, makers of early American and Shaker-style furniture, gifts and accessories. It also carries furniture...

It's a deal. (automobile purchasing)
March 31, 1997... Negotiating for a sale may go the way of the Model T When people go to the grocery store checkout line with bread, milk and eggs, and the cashier rings up $4.59, most customers generally don't respond: "Tell you what. Make it $4.25, throw in a...

Company founder was custom-made for his business. (Peace Bridge Brokerage owner E.J. Freeland)
March 31, 1997... E.J. Freeland laughs when he remembers a night 40 years ago he spent in a friend's garage taking care of a load of penguins destined for the Toronto Zoo. "We had to go there at 3 a.m. and get those stupid birds," he said. Back in the 1950s,...

Women's catalog scores big with apparel targeted to golfers.
March 31, 1997... A few links are missing for women on golf courses across the country. But one Central Ohio woman has taken up the challenge of keeping women golfers on par with their male counterparts on the course and off. Admittedly more an avid than a...