SOMETHING NEW

SOMETHING NEW SPOTLIGHT

NEW SHOES: Joshua Swift, left, and David Maceroni, in their East Providence warehouse where they receive and ship out shoes for their new company, Dash Running LLC.

PBN PHOTO/MICHAEL SALERNO

A swift entry into shoe sales

BY NANCY LAVIN |

Lavin@PBN.com

JOSHUA SWIFT is his own target audience: a recreational runner sick of paying too much for fancy running shoes from brand-name companies.

And he figured he wasn’t the only one. So Swift and business partner David Maceroni created their own shoe company. Dash Running LLC started selling a single product – a unisex running shoe for $70 – in April.

Swift, who works full time as a supply chain director for a local manufacturer, capitalized on his industry expertise to bring the direct-to-consumer model to his new venture. Dash’s shoes avoid the markups associated with traditional brand-name footwear by working directly with manufacturers in China, which ship the finished product back to a warehouse in East Providence, no middleman required.

The simplicity cuts unnecessary expenses and creates some financial flexibility for the company to fulfill its philanthropic goals. For every nine pairs of shoes sold, Dash donates a pair to a Boston youth mentorship and running program called Sole Train Boston.

Swift is considering a second shoe design and more sizes, but otherwise has no plans to expand. There is also no physical storefront – shoes are sold online and at certain race events in the state. n

CURIOUS COLLECTOR: Aardvark Antiques Inc. owner Arthur Grover, center, loves the thrill of the hunt for rare or unique items. Grover is pictured with his sons, Rocco Grover Silvestri, right, and Jay Grover Silvestri, general manager, at the Newport business.

PBN PHOTO/DAVID HANSEN

On hunt for hidden gems

Antique shop features restoration arm BY NANCY LAVIN | Lavin@PBN.com

ARTHUR GROVER loves the chase. Whether it was combing through the Cranston dump as a teenager or now traveling to Dubai and Thailand to buy antiques for his business, Grover lives for the thrill of uncovering a hidden gem.

“If you like it, you buy it and someone else will like it and it becomes a trend,” Grover said.

That philosophy has carried him through more than 50 years in business as owner of Aardvark Antiques Inc. From million-dollar stone fountains to $12 trinkets, the Newport business caters to a variety of tastes and wallets. Teeth-bearing bronze hippos share space with mahogany dressers. There are local, Gilded Age-era heirlooms from Newport mansions and Asian imports from Grover’s globetrotting expeditions.

Among his favorites: a stone fountain displayed at the 1893 World’s Fair in Chicago, which he bought from a Providence homeowner 35 years ago.

He won’t sell it, instead preferring to keep the 1,000-pound giant on display just to admire it.

When talking about another beloved piece, a 1930s art deco stone sculpture known as Song of Love, he refers to it with “she” pronouns.

While the higher-end pieces demand prices only wealthy collectors or museums with large endowments can afford, Aardvark Antiques caters to more than the elite preservation crowd. Seasonal tourists can just as easily find an affordable set of local glassware within the 30,000-square-foot showroom, while antique furniture is coming back into vogue among homeowners thanks to the supply chain aggravating bigger-brand commercial furniture outlets.

“People can’t get Ikea furniture anymore,” said Jay Grover Silvestri, Grover’s son and the business’s general manager. “All the antique dressers and bedroom sets that no one used to be interested in, that stuff is back.”

Both Jay and Grover’s older son, Rocco Grover Silvestri, work for the business, a partnership that has tested the patience of the self-proclaimed hot-blooded Italian family. But Rocco Grover Silvestri, who returned to work for the family operation at the beginning of the pandemic after a career in education, says they’ve figured out how to avoid those more “combustible” moments.

Their shared love for giving new life to forgotten treasures helps.

It’s an art that requires patience and a cool head, especially when it comes to the price. Antiques don’t come with a price sticker, requiring buyers and sellers to barter for a fair amount.

Aardvark has, for the most part, avoided the conflict that sometimes accompanies bargaining, which Jay Grover Silvestri credits to the value of its wares.

“My personal strategy is not to try too hard, let the piece sell itself,” he said.

The bigger sticker shock, as of late, is the cost to ship mammoth statues and heavy furniture, sometimes from overseas. Costs have gone up nearly 50% thanks to the fallout from the pandemic.

“The cost of shipping is making me not sleep at night,” said Jay Grover Silvestri.

Also a pain point: finding workers, particularly welders, with the skill needed to service the restoration arm of the business, which took off when Arthur Grover acquired a local welding company in 2009. Restoration is one of his favorite parts of the job, and a key source of business for customers, including the Preservation Society of Newport County. n

OWNER: Arthur Grover TYPE OF BUSINESS: Antique buyer/ seller LOCATION: 9 JT Connell Highway, Newport EMPLOYEES: Nine YEAR FOUNDED: 1969 ANNUAL REVENUE: $1.5 million

HOT TOPIC

Business accepts R.I. cannabis act

BY JACQUELYN VOGHEL | Voghel@PBN.com

AFTER YEARS OF FIGHTING against the legalization of recreational marijuana use, many Rhode Island business leaders say they’re now satisfied with parts of the new law that will allow employers to continue prohibiting use in the workplace.

The measure, quickly approved by lawmakers on May 24 and signed into law the following day, provides “a broad range of protections for employers, designed essentially to allow them to create workplace policies that they feel are suitable to their individual company,” said Laurie White, president of the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce. “And that protects employers from having to make any accommodations for their use of recreational marijuana.”

Employers can continue to hire, fire or take disciplinary actions against employees due to cannabis use in the workplace, business leaders say.

Industry advocates in manufacturing, construction and other technical professions have been particularly active in pushing for employers to retain this power, which they say is essential to maintaining safe workplaces in high-risk professions.

As more states around the country legalize recreational marijuana –Rhode Island is the 19th state (including Massachusetts and Connecticut) –some advocates for workers have criticized continuing drug testing for marijuana, arguing that an employee could test positive for cannabis use that takes place outside of work hours.

Others have also noted that continuing testing could scare away potential employees in fields that are already experiencing worker shortages.

Michael Sabitoni, business manager for the Rhode Island Laborers District Council, says current testing capabilities are limited to hiring decisions, determining whether an employee has used marijuana outside of work hours or is under the influence while on the job. State law prohibits random testing in other cases and the new law doesn’t change that, except where workplace safety is an issue.

The new law says employers can “implement policies which prohibit the use or consumption of cannabis within the [24-hour] period prior to

‘It looks like [legislators] have ... [addressed] many of our concerns.’

DAVID M. CHENEVERT, Rhode Island Manufacturers Association executive director

a scheduled work shift or assignment” for employees whose work is “hazardous, dangerous or essential to public welfare and safety.”

Sabitoni said he’d “rather err on the side of caution and the health, safety and well-being of the industry and workforce that we represent … than the rights of someone who feels that they’re being violated because they can’t have recreational marijuana and still work in a certain occupation.”

One potential gray area is that the law does not offer a standard for what constitutes being “under the influence” of marijuana in the workplace.

Sen. Joshua Miller, D-Cranston, told Providence Business News that such a standard under the law will be an issue for the employer and employee to resolve, much like alcohol use is now.

“[Employers] navigate that every day,” he said.

The Rhode Island Manufacturers Association is still reviewing the new law. But Executive Director David M. Chenevert acknowledged that “it looks like [legislators] have ... [addressed] many of our concerns,” he said. n

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