Local Businesses and COVID-19: Pennyweights

For today’s Q&A with a local business owner, we talk to Kelly Sigg of Pennyweights. The Elm Street jewelry shop is open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and 12 to 5 p.m. Sunday. 

Here’s our interview. New Canaanite: You reopened on May 20th. How’s it been going? Kelly Sigg: It’s good.

Prominent Elm Street Commercial Building Is Sold

The commercial space at 124 Elm St.—for years and until recently the home of Pennyweights, which moved a few doors down—sold this month for $1,616,000. According to town tax records, the property on Aug. 9 transferred between the limited liability companies 124 Elm LLC and Tres Amigos 124 Elm St LLC. The new ownership company’s principal is Elizabeth Elliott, according to records on file with the Connecticut Secretary of the State. Elliott, owner of women’s clothing shop More ‘N’ More next door and Shoes ‘N’ More across the street, could not immediately be reached for comment.

Did You Hear … ?

A northern New Canaan family on Thursday made a gruesome discovery: A raccoon saddled with a “body-gripping” Conibear-brand trap lay drowned at the bottom of its swimming pool. The trap had not been set by the Hunters Creek Lane family and the raccoon’s front foot had been broken by it, according to Officer Allyson Halm of the New Canaan Police Department’s Animal Control section. ***

The town on Aug. 9 issued a permit for a New Canaan homeowner to demolish a greenhouse and bomb shelter on the property. Purchased in March, the 4-acre property at 734 Oenoke Ridge Road includes a 1770-built Colonial, tax records show.

Editorial: ‘Moral’ Shopping in New Canaan

One lesson I learned in seven years of studying Latin in the New Canaan Public Schools involves the word ‘mos.’ It’s a noun and in the singular it means habit or custom. In the plural, ‘mores,’ it translates as character because, taken together, a person’s habits and customs form his or her character. It’s where we get our word ‘morals.’

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At the time I launched NewCanaanite.com, nearly three years ago, convenience and cost alone guided my own spending habits. I only asked ‘Can I find it here in New Canaan?’ if I were downtown already and needed something straightaway. Yet today, before purchasing or signing up for anything, I consciously seek out a local retailer or service provider—a habit so ingrained that it’s become second nature, part of my character.

New Canaan Businesses “Not Anxious” About SoNo Collection, Darien Redevelopment Competition

With the approved SoNo Collection mall in Norwalk and the proposed Corbin/Post Road redevelopment in Darien, the immediate area around New Canaan will see an influx of new retail shops during the next two to three years. These projects spark the question, what impact will these new stores have on local New Canaan businesses? Chamber of Commerce Marketing Associate Laura Budd said the Chamber is looking positively at the increased competition. “We like it that other areas close to us are upping their game in terms of shopping,” Budd said. “We believe it makes southwestern Connecticut and our town more of a destination for shoppers.”

Located just off I-95, the million-square-foot SoNo Collection will bring Bloomingdale’s, Nordstrom and 80 to 100 smaller retailers to Norwalk, according to The Hour.