Ann Cheney

Holiday Shopping 2023: Walter Stewart’s Market

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For this installment of our local holiday shopping series, we talked to Ann Cheney, store manager at Walter Stewart’s Market. 

Here’s a transcription of our conversation. ***

New Canaanite: Talk to me a little bit about Walter Stewart’s and what the store likes to do during the holidays. 

Ann Cheney: Walter Stewart’s is the New Canaan community market and we like to have everything for our many customers, whether it’s an easy dinner preparation or an extravagant pull-out-all-the-stops holiday meal, meal ingredient or catering. We do that all throughout December.  

What kind of things are people coming in to look for, specifically, during the holidays? Our customers are looking for special gifts, treats for the grandchildren, treats for themselves. We offer a wide variety of candy and floral items, in terms of gifts.

Who Knew: Taking the Eight Sandwich Challenge

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‘Who Knew?’ is sponsored by Walter Stewart’s Market. Once upon a time, men dressed like Cary Grant, and sandwiches were what people ate for lunch. From kindergarten classrooms to corporate boardrooms, one could observe people at midday consuming an ingeniously portable combination of ‘bread’ and ‘things.’ There was an order to life, and while I’m not suggesting that correlation is causation, it’s worth noting that, back when we all ate sandwiches, nobody wore Celtics jerseys on airplanes or flossed their teeth on the subway. 



Perhaps it’s a profusion of choice–granted, much of it positive and health-minded—that’s gotten us away from such norms. Kindergarteners, if Instagram is to be believed, now dine on elaborate bento boxes of hand-shelled edamame, hummus, and gluten-free, organic pretzels. Office folks can now Uber Eats an uninspired hexagonal tub from Sweetgreen, undertip the guy in the lobby, and sprint back to volley emails into oblivion. 

It’s also the sandwich’s fault, or at least the modern fast-casual incarnation of the sandwich’s fault, that our ardor for a handheld square of lunchtime bliss has cooled. Have you ever been to a Panera?

Around Town

PHOTOS: Bargain-Hunters Hit Sidewalk Sale on Saturday

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Hundreds of bargain-hunters visited the downtown Saturday for the New Canaan Chamber of Commerce’s annual sidewalk sale. Held on pedestrian-only stretches of Elm and Forest Streets, shoppers hit the downtown early as temperatures were expected to soar into the mid-90s amid a sustained heat wave in the region. “The street is full of all sorts of great merchants and organizations,” Chamber Executive Director Laura Budd said amid the crowds near Elm and Park Streets where two food trucks kept visitors fed. “It feels like a classic New Canaan summer day and we’re really excited to see all the people down here despite the heat. There’s a nice breeze coming down Elm Street so we feel pretty lucky.”

Nonprofit organizations, including Wildlife In Crisis, Staying Put in New Canaan and local party committees, set up booths alongside retailers and service businesses in curbside tents, many of them passing out water to downtown visitors.

Who Knew? New Canaan on Ice

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‘Who Knew?’ is sponsored by Walter Stewart’s Market. Is it too hot for opinions this week? Because I have one.  Everyone can openly adopt precisely one form of snobbery. You can be a wine aficionado, an ardent collector of vinyl, or an art-house cinephile, but combine all three into one personality, and you’d best tread lightly.

Francos Wine Merchants

Letter: ‘The Angels of New Canaan Came Together’

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Dear New Canaan,

It’s impossible to find the words to thank you for all the love and support you have given me and my family during my husband Steve’s illness and passing.  Ever since I first arrived New Canaan, I knew it was a special place and this caring community has continued to amaze me.  The angels of New Canaan came together and honored Steve with a beautiful memorial service, a heartfelt procession through town and a lovely reception at Waveny.  Thank you to everyone who helped make this happen. It “took a village” to say goodbye to “Mr. New Canaan”:

Thank you to the First Presbyterian Church for being there for my family and bringing together the community in the beautiful sanctuary. Thank you to New Canaan Fire Company and the Old Faithful Antique Fire Engine company for accompanying my husband with dignity on his final trip through town. Thank you to the NC Police Department, the Ambulance Corps, the Parks Department and Town Hall. Special thanks to Carriage House Catering. We’re so grateful we could put ourselves in your hands to handle the reception, along with Francos Liquors, Gregg’s Garden Center, Karl Chevrolet and Walter Stewart’s Market.