The Oswego Tea Company’s cinnamon-raisin bread has a following in the U.S. and in several countriesBy Tom and Jerry CaraccioliMap of the United States showing the location of people who have ordered The Oswego Tea Company’s cinnamon-raisin bread.When you walk into The Oswego Tea Company, one of the first things you will notice is a map of the United States with hundreds of thumb tacks marking various places throughout the country. As you scan the room, you’ll also see an area for drinking tea.Twenty-five years ago, Lisa Shaw had a vision.After she and her husband, Warren, bought a building on Oswego’s east side of town, the Shaws initially opened it to house Ontario Outfitters, a clothing store that offered off-price, discount clothes before the days of TJMaxx and Marshalls. The clothing store anchored the building. But Shaw’s vision and ultimate goal was to create and own a café–eatery in which customers could eat, visit, enjoy coffee or tea at their leisure and not feel rushed.“When my husband and I would go out, we liked to sit and hang,” Shaw explained. “Having a meal is an event, a three-hour thing. Most restaurants want to flip tables. We always felt like we (more…)

Lacona-based logistics company celebrating 30 years in businessBy Stefan YablonskiCEO George Joyce stands in front of one of his trucks in Lacona.Laser Transit keeps on truckin’ decade after decade after decade.What makes Laser Transit so successful all these years?“Not a single attribute, but several factors contribute,” according to founder and CEO George Joyce.“We were actually formed on Dec. 31, 1994. But ’95 is when we first began operations,” he said. “I haven’t really thought about [celebrations]. But certainly, we should mark the milestone somehow. It’s a big deal to get to where we are today from where we started. I’ve been doing this a while, since I graduated college in the early ‘70s. I’ve been in the logistics business for more than 50 years.”They literally started on a shoestring and managed to move quite a ways, he added.“We’ve managed to work with just about all the major companies in Oswego County — we’ve watched a lot of people come and go, also,” he said. “I feel good that we are still up and running and really still thriving. So I’m pretty happy about that.”“Literally, we started out with just one [vehicle]. When I say shoestring, it really was a shoestring,” (more…)

Business recently moved to a new location in OswegoBy Stefan YablonskiEarlier this summer, The Organic Earthling moved from downtown Oswego to the city’s eastern edge — the Lowe’s Plaza, 437 State Route 104.Owner and managing partner Lindsay Gaffney is considering an even bigger move — taking the business nationwide.“I’ve had several business owners in the past couple of weeks approach me asking if we were interested in developing it into a franchise,” she said. “So we’re in the research and development phase to create the easiest ways to be able to duplicate what we do across the nation.”An herbalist, certified in plant medicine through Cornell University, Gaffney’s currently studying for her doctorate in naturopathy through Kingdom College of Natural Health.“I expect to complete my doctorate studies by 2027,” she said.She studied graphic design and fine art at Mohawk Valley Community College. While studying fine art, artistic anatomy is what sparked her love and fascination with the intricately woven workings of the human body.“Building my personal library, I engaged in a self-study of anatomy and physiology providing a foundational grasp on the working mechanisms of the human body,” she explained.She and her husband, James, opened their business in August 2020 in (more…)