By Melanie Lekocevic
Capital Region Independent Media
RAVENA — A Main Street home that has stood vacant for many years has been transformed into the village’s newest business.
Hi-Tech Advisers moved its electronics business from Hannacroix to 22 Main St., Ravena, with a grand opening Saturday morning.
“We have been in business for 36 years,” co-owner Joyce Musso said Saturday. “We have evolved over the years and a lot of people are now coming to us for their phone setups, for their computer setups, for fixing their computer, for a new phone or computer, and we see ourselves having more customers coming to see us, as well as we still go out and install Dish TV, Mesh networks and surveillance.”
The business was formerly based out of their home in Hannacroix, but as Hi-Tech Advisers grew, Musso and her husband Paul felt they needed a storefront and looked to Ravena.
“We sold our house on 32 acres and bought a fixer upper and fixed it up,” Musso said. “It’s part business, part home for our family.”
The house, built in 1900, was in need of a great deal of repair, so the Mussos rolled up their sleeves and went to work.
“It was totally gutted on the inside — there was no plumbing, no heating, no electrical, no flooring — nothing,” she said. “We hired contractors to fix the inside for us, and we did the basement and the outside. The place was a disaster in the back — we totally redid everything. The siding was new and the roof was new, but everything else had to be redone.”
Most recently a two-family home, the building has stood vacant for many years. Deputy Mayor Nancy Warner recalled when the building housed a variety store called Vasto’s.
“Many of us remember when this building was a little neighborhood store with penny candy in the front and a butcher shop in the back. That was maybe in the ‘60s. Later on, it was a bike shop and then a private home,” Warner said.
She welcomed Hi-Tech Advisers to the community.
“It’s great to see another business that we never had come to Main Street,” Warner said. “I wish them a lot of luck.”
Joy Iafallo, chairwoman of the RCS Community Business Association, helped the Mussos relocate their business as well as their family home.
“They are completely invested. I am a real-estate agent, so they called me to sell their house that they had built. I thought they were never going to leave there, but they said they wanted to invest in their business on Main Street, so we started looking,” Iafallo said.
They were searching for a storefront that could double as the family’s home and wanted a central location to be as accessible to their customers as possible, Iafallo said.
“Their business was evolving and changing, so they decided they needed a storefront,” Iafallo said. “I love seeing them all in — as community members, as small business owners, as a generational family in the business. It’s just awesome to me.”
Hi-Tech Advisers is the latest in a string of new businesses calling Main Street and the village home.
“This is rapid fire and it’s awesome,” Mayor Bill Misuraca said of the new businesses opening their doors locally. “As many as we have, there’s more coming and it’s a really great time to be here in Ravena and I think we are seeing quite a bump, quite a push. These people are the best at what they do and I am behind them 100%.”
Village Trustee Linda Muller welcomed the business to the community and said more are on the way.
“For me, this is so exciting, particularly what they said about being a family business, being a bright spot in our community,” Muller said after Saturday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony. “Our residents are loving this. And I am so excited because we know there is more coming.”
