Personal Service Keeps Small Business Afloat in Commack

is one of the village's oldest businesses, serving its neighbors since 1959, according to its new owner, Steve Jackson.

"We have such a strong hold in the community. So many people know this place," said Jackson, who took over in April. "People come in here with a question. You're really not going to find anyone else with this amount of knowledge. My employees know the store inside and out. It's all about customer service."

Jackson said that bigger retailers like and Lowe's Home Improvement do have an impact, but not much. He said his real competitor is Ace Hardware, and the store is faring well against the competition.

"We're doing fine. We're on track," he said.

Johnny Baalsaac, a manager at, said that small retailers must be able to compete with what is available on the Web. 

"There's been a changing of the guard in retail," he said, with the old guard seeing substantial profits from heavy markups on items. "We don't make a lot of profit" on each item, said Baalsaac, "but we sell a lot of bikes."

Baalsaac said when the economy is bad, his store does well.

"We keep our prices low. We're competitive with Internet pricing. A lot of bike stores that don't do well are getting beat by the Internet," he said. The store does its advertising online and with local bands, he said, and foregoes print ads altogether.

Still, he said, the key factor is personal customer service.

"People walk in thinking they're going to get that," he said. "The best thing for a small business is to be friends with your customers."

John N. Woodward said his father bought in Commack the same year that opened nearby. He said the business, which had been established in 1965, grew "fairly well" early on.

"We're able to provide a service that big business can't," Woodward said of his staff's knowledge and familiarity with their customers. "People grab from Home Depot and hope it works out. Some come to us when it doesn't."

He said the risk of getting something wrong on a project is too great and too costly for some people, so they come to Aboff's to make sure they go home with the right color and the know-how.

Woodward said Commack is a good community to do business in.

"We see a lot of customer loyalty" in return for the sort of service Aboff's provides, he said. "We rely on customers to appreciate it."