Stop & Stor offered consumers tips on picking the best storage company to store their valuables.

Read the full article here.

Gerald Peters moves store to a new location in the Staten Island Mall tripling its size and doubling its brand offerings.

Read the full article here.

James LaPiedra of Amerishield, a Certified Financial Planner, discussed with the Bucks group this month the now number one crime in the United States - Identity Theft.

Stating there were 13.1 million identity theft victims in the United States in 2014, Mr. LaPiedra warned Bucks members that oftentimes - apathy, ignorance, and inaction - contribute to a person experiencing an identity theft or fraud problem in their everyday life.  Mr. LaPiedra explained that unscrupulous individuals use various ways to steal your identity including burglary, combing through public records, retrieving data from discarded equipment, stealing mail, and going through garbage for example.  Those looking to steal your identity are looking for your social security number, date of birth, driver's license, and other simliar items that will assist in accessing your current financial accounts or even opening up new ones. Mr. LaPiedra also noted that medical identity theft is also on the rise with people accessing your medical providers to obtain services.

There are ways to be proactive by checking credit reports and other key documents associated with your personal or business affairs that can be monitored to avoid becoming a victim of this crime.

Ed Fucini of Chris Limo described the changing industry he is part of - the car service industry - at a recent meeting. With the advent of UBER, a car service app that you can access on your phone providing you with a car to pick you up, often in 30 seconds, the car service industry is rapidlly changing.

According to Ed, there are 14,000 UBER vehicles operating in New York City, the first time another taxi type service outnumbered the number of yellow cab medallions. Although recognizing that car service companies are in competition with this new car service trend, Chris Limo prides itself in the line of luxury car service options he provides and his ability to cater to international travelers that arrive at regional airports. Many international travelers don't use the UBER app because it is not set up in a way to accommodate travelers coming from other countries who need car service upon arrival at a NYC airport.

Chris Limo has been in business for 25 years and Ed has been a member of Bucks for about 10 years.

Bucks member, Doreen Zayer of Relax on Cloud Nine, won the Staten Island Advance Reader's Choice Contest for BEST SPA, second year in a row.

Read the full article here.

Tom Neglia, Associate Executive Director of Staten Island University Hospital, along with Lou Tobacco, Senior Director of External Affairs visited the club this month.

As the largest hospital in Staten Island and the fourth in the state, they discussed opportunities for small businesses to do business with the hospital explaining that they like to take the hospital's business to the local business community and use local services wherever possible.

Mr. Neglia and Mr. Tobacco also discussed new initiatives about the hospital including a newly rebuit hospital plant by FEMA and a new Pediatric Oncology Center.

Bucks members were visited by Paul Hollender, Esq. of Corash and Hollender, to discuss topics related to bankruptcy law.

Mr. Hollender specializes in bankruptcy law and conducts CLE (continuing law education) credit seminars on bankrupty related matters and is a trained mediator.

Discussing ways to re-organize or dissolve a business if necessary, Mr. Hollender cautioned that it is always prudent to consistently pay owed sales taxes since unpaid sales tax will always remain a blemish on your financial records. Additionally, invest in retirment plans like 401Ks which are protected from the effects of bankruptcy and file your taxes on time every year even if you can't yet make good on money owed on your filings.

Scott Weisberg of Everything Entertainment offers some tips to follow when looking to include inflatable attractions at your next event.

Read the full article here.

Many drivers are experiencing flooded roads this month resulting from heavy periods of rain. George Zaloom of Zaloom's Auto Repair offered some advice to drivers.

Read the full article here.

Gregg Iliceto CPA, LLC, of Gregg Iliceto, Certified Public Accountant, was a guest speaker this month at Bucks.

Gregg's client base is regional with his firm servicing approximately 160 commercial clients and 600 individual clients. Discussing the tax filing process, Gregg touched on the ability of unscrupulous people to collect fraudulent returns. Identities are stolen and then used to submit false filing documents. If someone is victim to this, the IRS will investigate and correct the inaccuracies and make good on the return owed to the legitimate tax filer.  If someone is a victim of this, the IRS will offer another layer of protection to the victimized filer to prevent this occurring again.

Gregg also discuss sales tax filings and routinely encourages his commercial clients to keep good records on sales tax. Paying sales tax as a business is critical because unpaid taxes on sales will folllow the life of your business.