MIRABITO SIGNS
RISE AT TAYLOR’S
Binghamton-Based Company Said
About To Buy Cooperstown Firm
By JIM KEVLIN • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com
“Mirabito” replaced “Taylor” on the sign in front of the Goodyear Lake quick-stop this afternoon as the worst-kept secret in Otsego County in recent days became public.
Word is that Binghamton-based Mirabito is buying Cooperstown-based Taylor Heating & Mini Marts. Of the seven stores, five are in Otsego County, including the lighthouse-adorned one, a landmark as you enter Cooperstown on Route 28 from the south.
In addition to Goodyear Lake and Cooperstown, Mirabito is acquiring the Mini Mart in Oneonta’s East End, plus the ones in Laurens and Richfield Springs. Outside Otsego County, Mini Marts in Norwich and Richmondville are part of the package.
Vendors have been advised in recent days that barcodes will be connected with Mirabito as of Thursday, tomorrow.
No official comment was coming from either of the companies, but all the Taylor Mini Marts were closed today, with Mirabito staff completing inventories so the closing could occur. At Cooperstown, the adjoining car wash was blocked off with yellow tape.
The closing will mark the end of a commercial institution that has served Cooperstown and the surrounding area since 1942, when William and Grace Taylor bought the petroleum bulk plant on Linden Avenue, Cooperstown, from Socony Vacuum of New Jersey, according to the history on the company website.
Mirabito – now officially Mirabito Energy Products – also has local roots in Sidney. After World War II, the company, under the leadership of the late Tom Mirabito, then still in his 20s, shifted from coal to the fast-growing fuel oil business as homeowners made the transition to the new fuel source.
Tom Mirabito was a transformative mayor of Sidney in the 1960s, completing the airport and recruiting At A Glance, now Mead Westvaco, and other companies to the his adopted hometown. (He had grown up in Norwich.)
The company continued to expand under his son, Joe, expanding the quick-stop business and seeking out energy-related opportunities.
With this new acquisition, Mirabito will own 109 quick-stops, according to Kevin Quinton, sales & marketing director, who was overseeing the transition today at the Goodyear Lake store with Regional Manager Phil Barton.
What will happen to staff? I appreciate Taylor’s for its years of employing gas attendants, when so many companies have displaced workers in favor of automated self-serve. I hope Mirabito will continue to value the jobs Taylor’s has kept in the community.
Maureen culvert, you’re the ONLY one looking at camera, & what a mean look! Lol
So sorry to see Taylors stores change to Mirabito. The Taylor family took pride in providing clean and inviting stores to serve the public. Was in the Cooperstown Store last week, and after these months under Mirabito ownership, it is beginning to appear unkept and unclean as does the Hartwick Store!
I am forced to use the Hartwick store and each time I go there, I am turned off by the lack of a clean and inviting store. Entrance area, sidewalks are never cleaned, spilled food and drinks are left to the elements to remove. The interior of the store is just plain dirty, cluttered, and makes me not to want to touch anything!
BTW…this is not to in anyway reflect on the employee’s this is a lack of oversight and lack of demand for excellence by the owners..after all, “we are the only game in town”, and the “good enough” mantra applies.