Bus to Turning Stone

The Vegas of CNY!

For people who take the bus to Turning Stone Casino from Syracuse, a new company took over that run.  Rome-based Birnie Bus have done it for a long time, but unceremoniously stopped and a competitor, Hale Transportation in Clinton across Oneida County, have taken over.  Neither of their sites note any changes, yet the schedule is the same, picking up twice a day at Shop City, downtown Syracuse and Shop City (the casinos site has it now).  Birnies commuter service from Syracuse to Herkimer County, which uses back roads like the late Charles Kuralt, will continue to stop at the casino, but has always been separate from the casino bus with incentives.  Turning Stones site doesn't list bus partners like other places do, yet non-CNY companies like Wade Tours and Yankee Trails also travel to the facility, as well as private groups and local town councils'  parks and recreation departments (even within CNY), which cater largely to seniors, a huge component of the gaming industry.
I usually go during the festive season, but also when there's a show, but no one I like came this year.  It's also the only casino I go to not convenient by bus or on foot to local shops off campus, as small towns don't always seem like it.  You pay cash on the fly to get on the bus as opposed to other trips you plan in advance.  With pensioners being a big part of this, they don't have to travel out of town on their own.  If I had my own vehicle, I wonder if I would still do this anymore.

Live Local USA | A Voice for Small Business: Why Is It Too Hard To Keep Our Independent Busines...

An example from the Raleigh-Durham area in NC's Capital Region.  Classic case.



Live Local USA | A Voice for Small Business: Why Is It Too Hard To Keep Our Independent Busines...: This is hard to post. Last night it was tough enough to read and digest the article "As one decades-old school supply store shuts down...

Blink Fitness

Unknown location

Blink Fitness are part of Equinox, a downstate company with a number of other brands.  They have locations in North Syracuse and Westvale, but have yet to expand more Upstate.

New Hartford - former liquor store/pharmacy or Sangertown Square, NY 5 & 5A
Auburn - former P&C
Canastota - former Family Dollar, NY 5 & 13
Colonie - former Barnes & Noble
Fulton - former kmart, NY 481

Watertown - former Planet Fitness, NY 3

UPDATE (5/9/25): Blink Fitness have left CNY due to the local franchise breaking ties with corporate and going indie as Evolution Fitness, parallel to Elevate Fitness severing their licence with Gold Gym. Blink Fitness will just have to open in other parts of the state where they don't already operate.

Maytag Laundromats

Langs Laurdrette in Manitowoc, WI

Maytag Laundromats may be the closest thing to a national chain of laundrettes.  I've seen them in Albany and Niagara Falls, NY.  In CNY, it's either Colonial or indies.  There are spots here and there where they can compete with both.  All were laundromats in the past and I've been to some of these:

Liverpool - Old Liverpool Road and Electronics Pkwy or Long Branch Road and CR 57

North Syracuse - Church St

East Syracuse - NY 290 and N Center St or E Manlius and McCool Sts

Syracuse (north side) - US 11 or NY 298

Syracuse (east side) - Westcott St

Utica - Leland Ave
Cortland - US 11/NY 41 & 222
Whitesboro - NY 69
deWitt - NY 5 & 92

D.P. Dough/Calios merger

Centre County location

I only just learned that the countries two premiere calzone chains are becoming one.  D.P. Dough from the Ohio Capital Region and Calios in Cortland County, founded by an ex-D.P. employee have announced the latter buying the former.  I learned this as I was preparing for another trip to Rochester, where both chains are on NY 252 in a part of town not easy to get to without a car.  On that note, Ithaca also had them both and it's a small town, so the one I used to go to and a short-lived new location are closed as the Collegetown Calios across town absorbs DP blocks from Cornell and a mile or so from IC.  Calios have two in Syracuse, so having two DPs can be done in larger markets if there's enough space.  The old Cortland DP closed several years ago and the flagship Calios up the block along with the Delaware store (which brings DP back to the mid-Atlantic after the old one closed and is about 30 miles from the Philly store) and a few others have already converted to DP and the rest shall follow by next semester, given the college crowd who are the main market for the combined company.  This also means I won't really have to go to the Albany one anymore either, so I'll just have to get lunch or dinner somewhere else in addition to local-only Mr Subb.  This is a game changer for me and calzone fans across the nation.  Now there will be no other calzone chains as it's a niche market and calzones are otherwise at many Italian and pizza restaurants anyway.  At least there'll be less running around and it saves me time and money on the road.
The former flagship Calios in Cortland closed and DP Dough opened next door.  The old space will become a sports bar and restaurant and the original area DP down the block is now a Latino goods shop.

Speedway

Longtime location in Kalamazoo suburb of Parchment, MI

Speedway may seem like another cinch, but there are still a few spots they could open that were neither Hess nor Express Mart, given that they only opened outside the mid-West in recent years:

Fulton - former Wilson Farms/Gulf, NY 3
Oswego - TBD, NY 104
North Syracuse - former Mobil, US 11 & Bear Road (although ones are up and down the street)

Perkins

Twin Cities location

With the recent closure of Friendlys across the region, Perkins could make a comeback in CNY. I go by the Cortland and Niagara Falls, ONT locations sometimes. They had been in deWitt and other locations in the past. They could also go where other restaurants had been.

Syracuse (north side) - Destiny USA (former Cantina Loredo)
Whitesboro - former Zebbs, NY 5A
Syracuse (east side) - former Firudo, NY 5
Auburn - Fingerlakes Mall, US 20 & NY 5 or former Dennys, NY 5
Fulton - former Nestlé site, NY 481
Geneva - former Friendlys, US 20 & NY 5
North Syracuse - former Ponderosa, US 11
New Hartford - former Dennys, NY 5

Amherst - former TBD, NY 78

Syracuse (east side) - NY 5; former Red Lobster