English owns the Adirondack Store and Gallery — with three locations in two states — Lake Placid Comics and Games and is expanding into several new businesses.

Gladd died in 1977, when English was young. They never got to talk together about entrepreneurship. But English heard all the stories about his grandfather’s business endeavors from family. He ended up following a similar path.

English feels that no one really plans to be an entrepreneur. They just follow gut instincts and opportunities. It’s not something taught, so much as something “driven maniacs” have in them. Trying to create something out of nothing isn’t normal, he said.

He is set to open his eighth store this year with his partner Stephen Dori Shin, and is looking to expand nationally now.

Christopher English (Provided photo)

English said he didn’t realize he was an entrepreneur himself until his aunt, Sally Gilpin, told him she and her siblings always wondered who would be next in their family to catch the entrepreneurship bug.

“It’s genetics,” English said.

His mom was the same way. She raised a family of two kids and still mows, paints, rakes and works on her roof at 90 years old.

English believes entrepreneurship is important and essential to rural areas. In places like the Tri-Lakes, where there’s no big industry, the region survives on small businesses employing people, selling essential goods and services and bringing in outside revenue to the local community. Entrepreneurs bear the risk and reward of a business, he said.

When Gov. Kathy Hochul visited the Tri-Lakes last month, English scored a meeting with her and was able to advocate for the needs of entrepreneurs in this area. He said the biggest issue right now is finding housing for employees. Business owners need to adapt to times, he said. Short-term vacation rentals have affected them a lot.

Monroe Gladd (Provided photo)

“As full-timers are dying off, second-home owners are buying their homes,” English said.

With the population ebbing and flowing throughout the year, it makes businesses much more seasonal. English said it’s hard to only staff for half the year. Most Adirondack businesses have a boom in the summer and portions of the winter and dry spells in the shoulder seasons.

English suggested to Hochul that the abandoned Camp Gabriels prison in Gabriels, which was also formerly a tuberculosis sanatorium, be converted to housing. It has a lot of existing infrastructure to house hundreds of people, but has been sitting empty for years. He said Hochul was receptive to the idea.

He believes the region’s population can grow, especially as it becomes an attractive place compared to regions of the country experiencing serious climate disasters.

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Early opportunities

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English’s grandfather ran so many businesses, he isn’t even sure if he has a complete list.

Gladd was born in 1902 with not a lot of money. He only attended school up to the sixth grade, which was common at the time. He started his working life as a bellboy at the Sherwood Hotel in Burlington, Vermont. Then, he started working on automobiles.

This was in the 1920s when cars were a new part of life. With such a new industry, English said it was “all risk.” The Great Depression posed even more risk. But by the end of the decade, his grandfather built the Gladd Brothers Garage with his brothers Lee and Dick, selling Ford, Lincoln and Mercury cars from what is believed to be a now-wooded lot between the Saranac Lake Baptist Church and Taylor Rental.

He was shrewd. When people didn’t have money for engine repairs, he’d barter for horses, pianos and other valuables.

English said Gladd modified cars for bootleggers like the mobster Dutch Schultz … and worked on the police cars, too.

“He said, ‘It kept everyone in business,'” English said.

English said his grandfather never intended to have so many businesses, but he never turned down a good opportunity.

During World War II, traditional industry took a backseat to the wartime effort. When the government started offering manufacturing contracts, Gladd drove to Washington, D.C. and went to the Department of Defense to apply for war contracts.

English has photos of dozens of women building airplane parts and bomb fuses in the Gladd Brothers Garage car-dealership-turned-defense-plant between Old Lake Colby and Upper Broadway. English said at that time, 200 women worked around the clock building parts for the war.

They kept the industry in Saranac Lake going even during such a tumultuous time. The car industry was hit hard by the war. It was difficult to get metal or parts. Everything went into the war effort. Early home recycling programs were set up to collect metal separate from garbage.

Gladd owned a Pontiac dealership next to Riverside Park, back when the Lake Flower shoreline was filled with stores.

English said his grandfather created many jobs and didn’t die rich. As he grew older, he was able to put up his eight children with jobs running these businesses — running Gladd Electric, Roby’s GiftsLittle Joe’s Cocktail Lounge, the Datsun dealership. Some, like Upstate Auto, are still around.

His mother is the only member of that generation of his family still alive. She is 90 and lives in Connecticut.

The Datsun car dealership M. Gladd and Sons, where Evergreen Auto is now, was run by his sons George, Pete and Bill. The three were hemophiliacs, having a severe bleeding disorder. They couldn’t work other jobs, but they were able to work for themselves. They were not expected to live to adulthood, but were able to take care of each other and support their families for decades. George and Bill eventually retired for their health and Pete kept the dealership running for more than 40 years.

Gladd owned a lot of land near Lake Colby. English’s father graduated from Paul Smith’s College in 1959 and Gladd had plans to set him up with a hotel where the Lake Colby Beach is now.

But English’s mother “wanted no part of it,” and Gladd eventually sold the beach to the village.

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Expansion

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English’s first store was Antediluvian Antiques and Curiosities in Lake Placid. He left that business to take charge of the Adirondack Store. The store, opened in 1955, had been where Ray Brook Brewery is now. It’s owners at the time had liquidated their inventory and were selling the real estate. English didn’t want to see that happen, though. He said the store was iconic and that icons are valuable to the community.

“You just can’t let those assets go away. Because when they go away, they never come back,” English said. “Every community should protect its history and try to keep their long-term businesses going.”

He felt it was a proven business and after buying it in 2016 was able to increase the businesses’ revenue multiple times over. He’s now opened an Adirondack Store location in Tupper Lake — in 2018 — and another in New Canaan, Connecticut in 2020.

He started Lake Placid Comics and Games, serving a niche market in the region.

In 2018, English also helped finance and house Tupper Lake native Garrett Kopp’s Birch Boys chaga mushroom tea business by opening up a joint Birch Boys-Adirondack Store shop in downtown Tupper Lake.

Kopp, who was 20 at the time, had drive, but he didn’t have capital. And he was so young back then that he wasn’t old enough to rent a car for a food show he wanted to attend. English said he is excited to see the next generation of Adirondack entrepreneurs taking off.

Coming up, English is planning a distribution center and plaza at the former Furniture Weekend in Ray Brook and is starting to renovate the former Well Dressed Foods restaurant in Tupper Lake to be the Tall Pine Cafe.

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Advice

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The region has lost many businesses recently, English said. He said it takes the entire community to avoid this.

Entrepreneurs need a product that serves a purpose, he said, one that doesn’t have too much competition or that offers something new. His comic shop or The Village Mercantile in Saranac Lake are examples of this. Before the mercantile, English said Saranac Lakers couldn’t buy underwear in their own town.

He said landlords need to find ways to fill empty storefronts. They can find successful businesses and bring them in, offer lower rents and benefit the entire community by doing this.

English said if an employer treats their employees well, they’ll stick around. This takes generosity. He said he’s bought employees winter tires and paid for tooth removals.

He also feels its everyone’s responsibility to support their community. It’s easy to shop online, but doesn’t support the community.

“Not a lot of people start businesses with millions of dollars in the bank,” English said.

If they can’t turn a profit, they’ll close.

He sees his business-owner friends struggle at certain times of the year and will organize nights out at restaurants with his friends in the off-season to support establishments he likes.

He does his holiday shopping in the Tri-Lakes. English has proudly never bought anything on Amazon.

“If I need something, I’m going to a local business to buy it,” he said.

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Antiques

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English has always been drawn to history. In his last year of high school, he already had all the credits he needed except for one. He took that course, and six history classes.

He’s also always been a collector, even as a child.

“What’s a kid collect when he doesn’t have any money?” English asked. “Something free would be nice.”

So he collected business cards, holding up to 26,000 of them at one time.

The Adirondack Store has around 75% new items and 25% antique.

The craftsmanship and quality of older items is far superior. Back then, the materials were wood, metal and glass — not particle board, plastics and lucite.

Paradoxically, he said antique furniture is often cheaper for their quality than their new counterparts. He said the price of antiques has gone down, and are sometimes more affordable.

“You can’t buy the wood for what you’re paying for that antique dresser today,” English said.

Antiques brings warmth and history, he said.

While he surrounds himself with objects from the past, English also said he’s focused on the future. He wants the businesses he created, supported or continued to last for a generations into the future.