My Rye

Up in Smoke? Rye's Smoke Shop Given Notice

A Purchase Street stalwart may be going up in smoke. The Smoke Shop, a Rye institution for 38 years and purveyor of candy and various tobacco vices, has been put on a short leash, or a short lease, depending on how you look at it.

An unidentified buyer of the 53 Purchase Street building has given the shop a one year extension on its lease. Tony, the Rye Smoke Shop proprietor, would like to stay but does not know how things will turn out.

Compact Fluorescent Energy Saving Bulbs a Bright Idea

Save money, stop changing light bulbs all the time and reduce CO2 emissions, all in one fell swoop.

I was in Brewer's Hardware on the Post Road in Mamaroneck a couple weekends ago to buy a couple screws for a project and noticed they now stock compact fluorescent (CFL) light bulbs. I tried these bulbs years ago when they were bulkier, more expensive and the light output was, well, fluorescent.

You've come a long way, baby.

We have replaced about 1/3 of the light bulbs in our house and this GE Energy-Smart CFL Savings Calculator (note ConEd charges $0.16/kilowatt hour and the default setting on this calculator is $0.10/kilowatt hour) tells me after installing just 19 light bulbs we will save $233 annually or $1,281 over the lifetime of the 19 bulbs. And this CFL savings calculator from Environmental Defense tells me by replacing one single 60W bulb with a CFL bulb we will prevent 414 pounds of C02 from being released. Cool.

If you are not sure or just want to try CFL bulbs, I recommend starting with buying 5-10 compact 13W, 20W and 27W fluorescent (CFL) light bulbs designed to replace the old 60W, 75W and 100W varieties and try these in various high traffic areas in your home where you tend to leave the lights on for an extended time.

Here are a couple things I have learned switching over, which will help anyone considering the switch:

1. Different Bulbs. You need different bulbs for dimmers, ceiling fan lights, regular and outdoor lights.
2. You May Know More Than the Store. Retailers are just getting educated about compact fluorescent (CFL) light bulbs and are not carrying all the bulbs you will need. Brewer's has a decent selection and told me they are slowly expanding to carry bulbs you can use in dimmers, etc. John at Brewer's was very helpful. Home Depot in Portchester also carries the CFL bulbs, but good luck getting any sort of help over there.
3. Different Light. Soft white vs. natural light. Just like old fashioned light bulks, CFLs come in these varieties. I find soft white to be brighter and warmer, but it is a personal decision.
4. Warm Up. When you turn on some CFL bulbs, they may take a minute to warm up to full brightness. You'll have to turn off your Type A personality for 60-120 seconds.
5. Brighten Up. If you think a spot in your house is dark, you can make it brighter. Say you have a light socket rated for an old fashioned 75W incandescent bulb. You can either use a 20W CFL bulb that will provide the same light output or you can upgrade to a 27W CFL bulb that has the same light output as an old fashioned 100W incandescent.
6. Save Your Receipt. Not all CFL bulbs will fit in light fixtures made for old fashioned light bulbs, so save your receipt, so you can return bulbs that do not fit.

Depending on the CFL bulb, it will last 4-9 years. When the bulb does finally give out, it must be disposed of as hazardous material (ie not in household trash) because of its mercury content. You can bring these to one of Westchester County's household chemical clean-up days (there is usually one at Rye Playland in May and again in November).

GE offers some good background on CFL bulbs including common questions & answers.

I found it helpful to buy our CFL bulbs at Brewer's so I could exchange things easily, but here are a couple online stores I found.

• EcoLightBulbs.org This site, run on the side by a product manager at Google, claims to be a non-profit that sells CFL bulbs at cost.
• 1000Bulbs.com
• Bulb America
• Energy-Superstore
• LightBulbsDirect

We have not tried these online retailers, so let us know about your experience. Good luck!

Family Discount Store Closing After 30 + Years

The store that seemingly had everything you needed will soon have nothing. Family Discount Center, on Halstead Avenue in downtown Harrison for 30 plus years, lost its lease. You could find just about anything there--shampoo to kids clothes to hardware items. And for parents with young children on the way to the omnipresent children's birthday party, Family Discount had a great toy collection and would (even better) wrap the gift at the counter.

The good news: there is a second Family Discount in the Rye Ridge Shopping Plaza in Rye Brook.

The bad news: the landlord has leased the space to CVS, the chain pharmacy. Harrison Pharmacy had fought this and Trotta's can't be happy either. At least it is not another bank...

Santa Claus Visits Downtown Rye

Who knew the Rye Merchants Association was so powerful? We are not sure who had the connections, but Santa Claus showed up with one of his elves this afternoon in downtown Rye. Purchase Street was closed to auto traffic so residents could stroll the street, shop and enjoy the holidays.

There were multiple jumpy castles and Rye's dueling banks and real estate brokerages competed with various give-aways and rides.

Best Hardware Store on the Soundshore

Brewer's, on the Post Road in Mamaroneck, is undoubtedly one of the greatest hardware stores around. They have everything and they have a super knowledgeable staff. There is an entire room with hundreds, maybe thousands of drawers of screws, nuts and bolts. And unlike Home Depot, you don't have to buy a box of 200 screws to get the one you need.

Look at this photo. This is one half of their rope aisle!

A rope aisle? Incredible. They also have an expertise in marine items for your boat. They run a bunch of marinas including the one right in back of the store.