New and revamped local businesses in Press Bay

Over the last few months, new businesses have popped up in Press Bay with others relocating to the area that is quickly becoming a popular hub and hangout space.

SewGreen moved from North Cayuga Street to Press Bay Court, next door to the Alley, last fall. They recently added a sewing studio down the hall from their main store where they will hold classes and summer camps. In April, Thread Lightly Sewing, owned by professional seamstress Margaret Ball, will be joining SewGreen.

“We are all supportive of one another. I treasure being part of this diverse entrepreneurial community. The camaraderie among the tenants is one of the best benefits of being here,” said Wendy Skinner of SewGreen and IthacaSews.

SewGreen will be sharing their space with Thread Lightly. Owned by Margaret Ball, Thread Lightly Sewing was started in December 2022 and is a place for people to have their clothes mended to extend their life. This includes zipper repair, mending holes, patchwork and alterations. 

The shop is moving out of a little office space on The Commons and into SewGreen’s extra class space. This will be beneficial for both businesses as their skills and offerings coincide with one another. 

“I feel like I feel very lucky that I got to learn these skills from my mom, who also learned from her mom,” Ball said. “My grandmother had four daughters in the 60s and sewed most of their clothes so it’s just always been something in our family. I didn’t have to worry about holes in my clothes because we would just fix it and I want to make that available and also help people learn enough about this in any way that I can.” 

The super-healthy smoothie shop, Empire Raw, also opened in Press Bay in December 2022. They serve a variety of juices and smoothies and will be adding wellness shots, customized and premade, to their menu as well. 

“We’re really into health and wellness. We tried to produce something that’s not only good tasting but healthy for you,” said Jay Jackson, co-owner of Empire Raw. Brian McCormick is the other co-owner.

Jackson explained that it was during a visit to Ithaca that he saw the need for a smoothie and juice bar in the area. The area has a lot to offer, but as a businessman, Jackson said he saw a corner of the food and drink market that he could occupy because no one else had done it yet.

“We’re just happy to be here. Brian and I look forward to being here many more years and hopefully the community will appreciate our products and continue to support us as we hopefully grow.”

Growth might be the word of the year for small businesses. What started as a small metal stand in the Ithaca ReUse parking lot has become a local favorite, allowing the business to move into a more permanent location. Tacos CDMX has plans to move into the Lucky Hare Brewing space. Lucky Hare will be opening a new location in Owego.

Eduardo Acevedo, creator of Tacos CDMX, was approached by developer John Guttridge, who owns Press Bay Alley, and planning took off. The new Tacos CDMX location does not yet have a set opening date, but Acevedo wants to open in May.

The Traditional Center for Indigenous Knowledge and Healing (TCIKH), a not-for-profit, has been in Press Bay for some time but recently changed spaces for more visibility.  

Alexas Esposito is a co-founder and the director of the center and Maya Soto, also a co-founder, is the program and communications coordinator. Their work started as family work with Soto’s father being part of the initial founding of TCIKH with Esposito.

“How this came about is Maya’s dad inspired me in my explorations of identity to learn more about seeds and essentially was like, ‘we’re indigenous people and we have to assert our sovereignty,’” Esposito said. “Although he didn’t challenge me directly, I took it as a challenge and said ‘well, we’ll assert our sovereignty as non-federally recognized indigenous people and I’m going to use our seeds to do that.’” 

TCIKH has previously held programs and spoken at events on healing intergenerational trauma and building connections with nature and intends to keep doing this as they expand into their new space. 

TCIKH is an entirely women-owned organization with an Indigenous/Raza board of directors. The organization is also mainly Taíno individuals. The Taíno people were historically from the Caribbean and Florida. At the time of European contact in the late 15th century, they were the main inhabitants of most of Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola (the Dominican Republic and Haiti), and Puerto Rico. 

“We recognize, even as young people, that we have this wealth of knowledge and wisdom that can really positively impact people and not just indigenous people but all community members,” Esposito said. 

A new local store in Press Bay is hidden inside Sparks and Embers, which opened in 2020. Miranda Kasher launched Upcycled Upstate after a lifetime love of thrifting and upcycling. 

Upcycled features pre-loved and upcycled clothing in addition to pieces by local artists with a focus on reusing and recycling old materials. Donations are accepted and Kasher also offers to pick up donations if people cannot bring them to the store directly. 

Kasher said she started curating her collection of pre-loved clothes almost eight years ago. This was around the time platforms like Poshmark and Mercari first took off, but they were not popular yet and Kasher said she also had a difficult time selling online. 

“I was in school, got distracted, graduated, it just never worked out for me. I knew I thrived in an in-person setting more so than online so it’s been on the back burner for almost eight years now,” Kasher said. “I’m from Ithaca but after graduating from Cornell, I moved to the west coast for a few years. Now I’m back. I still had my inventory with me so it traveled cross country twice. I knew I wanted to do something with it when I came back here and so I started building my business again, looking into finding an in-person opportunity.” 

Kasher was able to get a studio space for storage and art creation and eventually happened upon the opportunity to join Sparks and Embers as a collaboration. Both shops prioritize quality products that are good for people and the planet. One of the goals of Upcycled is to offer a place for creators, but also for items that will become favorites and find a new home in someone else’s wardrobe. 

Speaking of favorites, The Gallery, home of the most amazing donuts in town, recently partnered with North Folk for ticketed dinners by Chef Daniel Medina. They are working to expand their in-house offerings.

Fred Horowitz, owner, graduated from Cornell’s business program and wanted to create a space that involved different aspects of the community with a focus on local products. 

“I really wanted to explore new models of food service and hospitality,” Horowitz said. “As we’re coming out of the pandemic, things have really shifted, as they often do, but this feels like a dramatic shift this time so we need to explore new ways to utilize brick and mortar spaces but old models are dysfunctional or require capacities that small businesses don’t have.” 

Horowitz and Medina created The Gallery as a response to this shift and to help fill the demand for artistic and community gathering spaces. Currently, the space can be booked for small private events like birthdays or group gatherings and can be catered by Chef Medina as well. Fridays are dedicated to affordable tasting menus, with limited seats available. Their most popular days, however, are Saturdays.

“Saturdays are our donut days, which are very much a labor of love,” Horowitz said. “We really wanted to bring this yeasted product to Ithaca because in the northeast you have mostly cake donuts. Now, we have groups and people that come in every Saturday in this ritual type of way and it’s so cool to see that.”

Press Bay Alley and Press Bay Court is certainly becoming a bustling and exciting place to be. With a focus on small businesses that support one another, business owners and their customers alike are excited to see how the spaces develop and become a larger part of the Ithaca economy and community.