Albany is peppered with nine Big Dom's submarine shops. And there is a real-life Big Dom behind the sandwich empireDominic Basile, who is big (6 ft. and more than 300 lbs.) and for whom business lately has not been great. Says Basile: "We've had a bad winter."
Not long ago, a bad spring seemed in the offing too. The landlord of one shop wanted to raise Basile's rent from $300 a month to about $350. Basile is a businessman; Landlord Richard Gerrity is a businessman; businessmen compromise. Says Gerrity: "Creativity is important." Thus he gave his negotiator a single, unorthodox instruction: "Get...