About A&G Custom Made Furniture

It seems that Alex Kambouris and his wife, Dru, would have a successful business no matter where they set up shop.

The owners of A&G Custom-Made Furniture Inc. run their business from a 2,000-square-foot building on U.S. Route 209 in this tiny town of Rochester hamlet.

The KAMBOURISES work mostly in Formica- laminated, three-quarter-inch wood.

The couple chose Ulster County largely because they were familiar with the area. Dru Kambouris' family owns a summer home here, and they have visited the county frequently.

Alex Kambouris went to work at Manhattan Cabinetry upon arriving in the United States. "That was the first job I got when I jumped ship (in New Orleans)," he said with a laugh. He was a sailor on a Greek ship who had longed to come to the United States, he said.

He traveled to New York and asked his relatives at Manhattan Cabinetry for a job. They put him right to work. The first dollar he earned in the United States hangs on a wall in his shop.

He worked at Manhattan Cabinetry for nine years, eventually buying ahouse in Staten Island. A year later, he and his wife sold that house and used the money to start the A&G Custom Made Furniture. By doing business in Ulster County, the Kambourises, take advantage of lower rent while tapping into the urban centers of New York and Albany.