When your neighbors are your clients

Owning a business and a home in the same neighborhood

Posted

Each weekday, the busiest commuter railroad in North America, the Long Island Rail Road, carries an average of 301,000 people on 735 daily trains to their destinations. But Jillian Hughes of Malverne isn’t one of them. For Hughes her commute — or lack of it — is one of the best things about her job. Her shop, Forget Me Not Gifts, is only blocks away from the Malverne home she moved to in 2010.

Hughes is not alone. At least two dozen people, all of whom own storefront businesses in Malverne or West Hempstead, also have homes close by, the Herald discovered after conversations with members of both the Malverne Merchants and Professional Association and the West Hempstead Civic Association. Additionally, many others have home-based businesses, with the enviable commute of trekking up or down the stairs of their houses.

Some of the obvious benefits — like the commute — only skim the surface of the advantages of owning a business close to home. “It was definitely good for my health,” said Felice “Fel” Murale, owner of Fel’s Hair Creations in West Hempstead, who owned a house in Bay Shore before buying one in West Hempstead. “I would come home late. I couldn’t come home for lunch. I found it very stressful.”

Murale opened his West Hempstead salon in 1972, and moved to the hamlet from Bay Shore in 1979. It was a change that residents paid attention to, he said, because he was now invested in the community. “The people, when they know you’re from here, business starts to get better,” said Murale, who added that he found himself getting more involved in the neighborhood. He also understood his clients’ needs better by living in the area. “There are many Jewish people here, and I try my best to accommodate them as much as I can,” he said. He will be open on Mondays — a day he’s normally closed — near the Jewish holidays or for weddings or bar mitzvahs for clients who request his services. “I think I’m still here for that reason,” Murale said. “I’m good to everybody.”

Hughes, who is moving her shop from Church Street to 304 Hempstead Ave. in time for the Holiday Lighting on Dec. 3, she hopes — also commented that being part of the community helps her understand its preferences. “We’re moving to Hempstead Avenue because we wanted to expand our children’s section,” Hughes said. “I think we underestimated how much kids are a focus here.” The store’s new space, she said, is almost double that of the Church Street location, and she will be expanding her children’s line. She will also continue selling her Malverne-stamped products and seasonal items, which are some of the store’s biggest sellers.

In 2004, Kathi Monroe bought her Malverne home, and six years later she started her business, Harmony Acupuncture, in Lynbrook, which she recently moved to 333 Hempstead Ave. in Malverne. An active volunteer in numerous village organizations, Monroe has also gotten to know her customers well. “Malverne is a very warm and cozy community. As far as its consumers — they’re very picky and they’re very loyal,” she said. “It’s difficult to win them over, but once you have them, it’s difficult to lose them.” In addition to her own volunteer work, Monroe’s business gives back to the area by offering free auricular acupuncture — stimulation of acupuncture points on the ear’s external surface — to veterans on Tuesdays from 1:30 to 3 p.m.

Arthur Marks, who purchased Bageltown in West Hempstead four years after he bought his West Hempstead home in 2006, said that the many positives of his home’s proximity to his business also have negatives. “Living in the same town as you’re working in, and being around the same people in your business life and personal life — sometimes it causes a problem and you can’t say what you want to say because it affects business,” Marks said. He is also involved in the community as a volunteer EMT with the West Hempstead Fire Department and a member of a synagogue (he also attends several others). He said his business — which provides allergen-free wholesale and retail baked goods — has grown since he purchased it, prompting him to seek a bigger location.

When he was 19, lifetime Malverne resident Nick St. John and his brother Jim, started St. Johns Electric in 1985 in of their sister’s bedroom, after she married and moved to a home of her own. Since then, Nick has kept the business in Malverne — moving it to the basement of the former Cork ‘n Board restaurant and then to a garage adjacent to Monroe’s Hardware on Lakeview Ave., several blocks over the Malverne border in Lynbrook. “I like working for people that I know,” said St. John. “If I know someone, especially if I’m friendly with them, I wouldn’t charge them as much. Not having to sit in two hours’ worth of traffic is a good benefit, too.”

St. John, who noted that he was scheduled to install wiring in the Cooper Hewitt Museum and the National Museum of the American Indian in Manhattan, said he has a particular affinity for working in the village. “I like to put my mark on things,” he said. “We’ve done a lot of work for the village over the years. “Years ago, when they used to put all the Christmas lights in the trees … we used to string the lights. My brother and I did it for free. And when I went to the Lighting of Malverne, it’s a nice feeling to know you were part of that.”