Within minutes of each other, press releases from two major moving companies arrived Thursday in our inbox, telling us which were the most, and least, popular states last year with households making interstate moves.
Our own fine state did not fare well. United Van Lines said 63 percent of its moves in New York were households leaving the state. Only New Jersey and Illinois fared worse.
Atlas Van Lines, meanwhile, ranked New York its top state for people moving out, with 62.7 percent leaving.
What states were most popular with relocating households? Both Atlas and United ranked Idaho first. Meanwhile, two Pacific Northwest states also dominated. Atlas said the second most popular inbound state was Washington, while United said it was Oregon.
Actually, Vermont had the highest percentage of inbound moves, but overall, it handled fewer than 250 moves in and out of the state. This year’s rankings, United said, “only reflect states with 250 moves or more.”
Did we miss the party?
As we strolled through Crossgates Mall in Guilderland last week, we came across a “selfie” spot decorated with photos of the mall through its 35 years of existence. What? Did we miss the big anniversary?
Apparently. We checked our files and discovered Crossgates actually opened in March 1984, with a major expansion 10 years later.
Much has changed since the mall first opened. Two anchors, Jordan Marsh and Filene’s, are gone, replaced by Macy’s. J.C. Penney is still there, however, in the same spot it occupied when the mall opened.
And there’s still a place for the endangered Karner Blue butterfly, in a corral near the west end of the mall.
We’re not sure what the future will hold for Crossgates, which has become more entertainment oriented as retail shopping moves online. But it did reveal plans for the Capital Region’s first Costco, although concerns about the environment and traffic, which were there when Crossgates first opened, remain.
AMD had a very good year
Advanced Micro Devices, the company that spun off its manufacturing arm to form GlobalFoundries, had a very good year in 2019. Markets Insider reports it was the best-performing stock in the S&P 500, and was off to a strong start this year, with its share price surging 7.4 percent on Thursday.
GlobalFoundries, of course, operates the massive semiconductor fabrication plant in Saratoga County, which employs 3,000 people. AMD has been one of its key customers, and its strong performance likely is good news for local operations as well.
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