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How’s Business? – Boro’s economic heartbeat

By Joe Palumbo

I would like to introduce you to what is going to be a new and exciting column focused on our borough of Queens. We are living in the most volatile and uncertain economic times encompassed by constant change.

Never has there been such an emphasis on the competitive edge of business than in our present day. And if we mix both these challenging high-speed business environments with the borough of Queens, a real adventure begins.

Think about it. There are nearly 35,000 businesses located in Queens. It has also been said that in population and business if Queens were a state, it would rank as the 17th largest in the nation. Astounding!

Leading the way for business in Queens would be the areas of health services and air transportation. The ccredentials of other Queens companies are quite impressive in fields ranging from manufacturing, retail, construction, financial, insurance, real estate and hotels to restaurants and on and on and on. Queens is a powerhouse economy, which is composed of some 2.2 million residents.

What we will be doing in this new column every week is entering the offices, stores and companies and traveling the highways and byways of Queens. Which businesses are doing well and poised for real growth? Which businesses are having a real tough go of it right now and what are they doing to try to overcome the odds of what has become an ever-increasing competitive business atmosphere?

We will check out different industries, talk to the people and bring it all right into your home or office. Each week we will concentrate on a specific industry and take its pulse and temperature.

We’ll walk the streets of Flushing, Bayside, Astoria, Forest Hills, Jamaica and all of the business neighborhoods of Queens. We’ll focus in and talk with specific companies and get it right from the horse’s mouth. Will real estate prices continue to soar? Will the travel industry ever really recover? What about the restaurant business?

Come on and let’s do it together every week. Let’s go through the Borough of Queens and let’s find out how’s business.

Joe Palumbo is a private asset manager as well as the fund manager for The Palco Group, Inc. an investment company at www.palcogroup.com or 461-8317.