For years humans have been burning stuff to keep warm. If we aren’t burning firewood, were lighting gas or coal. Not much has changed until the Internet inspired a few novel ideas.
One local company has …
Barry Fixler
Barry’s Estate Jewelry
Bardonia, NY
What you remember most about Barry’s Estate Jewelry, 295 Route 304 in Bardonia, is Barry.
Barry Fixler cares deeply about his country, his community and his customers.
“When people come in here, they can lower their guard,” said Fixler, who exudes calm from behind his store counter. “They come in as strangers and walk out as friends.”
Fixler prides himself on being honorable, sincere, open and “maybe too fair.”
Fixler’s door has been open at the same location since 1992. He’s a third-generation jeweler who started on his own in 1981.
“I never thought I’d do anything other than jewelry,” he said.
Barry’s Estate carries jewelry for all occasions, from weddings and anniversaries to holidays and commemorative moments.
Fixler also buys gold jewelry, and people have been selling a lot of old gold lately because styles have changed and the price of gold has soared.
As valuable as gold is Fixler’s word. He’s a patriot who is constantly involved in the community, both through the Rotary Club and his own initiative.
Fixler recently added $10,000 to the reward fund for a missing New York woman who was last seen with a sex offender from Orange County.
Some may recognize Fixler from his unwanted brush with celebrity in February 2005, when two would-be robbers pulled guns on him in his Bardonia store.
The quick-reacting Vietnam War combat veteran snatched his own gun and fired. Fixler won, and he was hailed as a local hero.
But Fixler is content to be known simply as the local jeweler who is happy, fair and cares.
“No one ever walks out that door disappointed,” he said.
Popularity: 32%
Tracy Kobelt-Danosky, Pearl River Hearing Center,
Pearl River, NY
Hearing loss is a personal matter, and it is reflected in the intimate manner in which owner Tracy Kobelt-Danosky runs Pearl River Hearing Center.
“I know my patients on a first-hand basis,” said Danosky, who is certified by the state to dispense hearing aids. “It’s always going to be me that they see. It’s professional, but it’s personal, too.”
Pearl River Hearing offers free hearing evaluations and counseling, and Danosky has flexible hours to accommodate patients for whom 9-to-5 doesn’t fit. She even has met people on Sundays.
Hearing loss eventually affects most of us, but we usually are reluctant to act. The average person waits seven to nine years after being diagnosed with hearing loss to do something about it.
Another problem often linked to hearing loss is tinitus, or persistent ringing in the ears. If more people knew that hearing aids can help reduce tinnitus they would probably have their hearing evaluated sooner, Danosky said.
People are affected at younger ages as the generation that grew up listening to amplified rock & roll gets older.
The bulky hearing aids of 20 years ago didn’t look much better than ear horns, and all they did was amplify every sound the same.
Now they’re referred to as “listening devices,” and have been reduced and streamlined to near invisibility, yet are so sophisticated that they can adapt to different sound environments and be reprogrammed as a person’s hearing changes. Testing is equally sophisticated.
“Come in and just get and education on hearing,” Danosky said. “If you don’t have hearing loss, there’s going to be someone you know who has.”
Pearl River Hearing Center
FREE Hearing Evaluations
(845) 735-EARS (3277)
17 East Central Avenue
Pearl River, N.Y. 10965
www.pearlriverhearing.com
Popularity: 2%
