Here’s a statistic that Ron Rosenfeld rolls out as knowingly and assured as he could recommend the exact right New Balance model running shoe for you: There are 500 families in New Canaan with special needs kids.
Ron Rosenfeld is retiring at month’s end as owner of the New Balance New Canaan shop—a business that in the 10 years he’s run it, has become deeply involved in the community, particularly in its support of special needs kids. Credit: Michael Dinan
He knows that because, in the 10 years he’s owned and operated New Balance New Canaan on Main Street with his wife, Tina, Rosenfeld has gone out of his way to serve those families and earned their love and trust as a result.
At one point early on with the store, Rosenfeld said he noticed that many of his customers, moms, would buy shoes for their kids, leave and then come back.
“I would say, ‘Why don’t you bring your kid in?’ ” the Ridgefield resident recalled Wednesday morning from a narrow corridor behind the sales floor that serves as his office. “And they would say, ‘He’s a special needs kid and he can be disruptive and a lot of retailers don’t want them in the store.’ And I said ‘that’s not us. You bring them in and if I have to make special appointments, I’ll do that. I’ll come to your house. But bring them in.”
They’ve been coming in ever since, and Rosenfeld has gone on to partner with parents as well as community leaders and organizations to build support for local special needs kids and their families, while advocating for running and fitness among New Canaan youth in a shining example of a businessperson getting truly involved.
At month’s end, the Rosenfelds will retire from the business, having sold it to a man who already owns and operates New Balance stores in the Northeast. While he will remain race director of the All Out For Autism fundraiser that he helped found seven years ago, and as a coach for a middle school track program called ‘New Canaan Blazers,’ locals who have worked closely with Rosenfeld say they’re already feeling keenly the loss of a close friend and compatriot who possesses rare gifts for connecting with and championing others.
“He is the most giving man,” said New Canaan’s P.J. Marcella, mom of an autistic son named Johnny and a deeply involved parent in Special Education in New Canaan who organizes All Out For Autism with Rosenfeld.
“And I have to say, he is one of the funniest men I have ever met. It’s not just Ron—it’s Ron and Tina. They have a legacy with New Balance New Canaan and the community. There is not anybody in town that I have run across that doesn’t know about their store. They wouldn’t go to anyone else. They are not only great and giving in terms of fundraisers and nonprofits, very active and charitable people, but they are very easy to love, both of them.”
Marcella added: “They are going to be deeply missed. The chatter around town is, ‘I can’t believe it [that they’re retiring].’ ”
Marcella said she counts herself among the parents of special needs kids who long has struggled to go shopping with her child.
“I can take Johnny there,” she said. “I have always been able to take Johnny there and Ron always made me feel comfortable, from the first day he was there and would let him run around the store and scream. There’s a love a patience there. They love every kid that comes in and they talk to them like they’ve known the kids for their whole lives. Uncle Ron and Aunt Tina. They’ve opened their hearts to us.”
Uncle Ron and Aunt Tina met in 1981 at a shoe store in Stamford—she as a customer (yes, she bought New Balance shoes) where Ron was working, and they married two years later.
A graduate of Syosset High School on Long Island in 1969, Rosenfeld went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in business administration at the University of Hartford, and then took a job at Chase Manhattan Bank.
He worked there for six years, and during the last three, he also worked a second full-time job at an athletic footwear store—a foray into the world of sports, which he’s always enjoyed.
Over the next 32 years, he would open up a number of stores in Fairfield County and beyond. Ten years ago, he and Tina came to New Canaan, and haven’t looked back.
“It’s been a wonderful experience,” Rosenfeld said during an interview cut short because he could hear it was getting busy in front and spryly hopped up to go serve his customers. “The people in this town really appreciated what we did in giving back to the community. We have enjoyed taking care of people. We have worked with the coaches, the high school kids. The program that we run with track and field is for 9- to 14-year-olds. It’s grown from 30 kids to 85 kids last spring. It’s been great. This is a special town. The people, I feel, are not only educated but they really appreciate when a retailer is involved in the fabric of the community.”
And has he ever been.
In addition to the autism fundraiser, New Balance New Canaan raised funds for the exercise equipment area at Waveny Park between the main house and Orchard Field—a station designed to address those with special needs that’s also serving a wider community, including seniors.
Rosenfeld also long has been involved with the New Canaan Chamber of Commerce, including as a current Board of Directors member.
The chamber’s executive director, Tucker Murphy, called Rosenfeld “the best, just the best.”
“Ron and Tina are examples of people that took their job to a whole new level,” she said. “While it was a job and it was a place to go to work every day for all the reasons you have a job, they really did it because they just care so much about the people they’re taking care of. When they sold you a pair of shoes, they weren’t just selling you a pair of shoes. They were taking care of you, your family. They knew everything about you. Their service was the best around … The new owner certainly has big shoes to fill.”
Asked about his reasons for retiring now, Rosenfeld, dad to two grown kids and with 38 total years in the retail footwear business, said with a smile: “I’ve had enough.”
Assured that the store will continue under new ownership and with Rosenfeld’s friendly staff in place, including local high school kids, he said he’s looking forward to exercising more and taking care of himself as well as Tina.
“And spending time doing things I’ve never done,” he said. “I have never had a weekend off unless I was out of the area for some reason. I have never got up on Saturday or Sunday and said, ‘Let’s go do something.’ Never been able to do that. Thirty-eight years is a long time doing one thing.”
I wonder if Ron also kept statistics on the number of New Canaan kids who got their first work experience under his tutelage? I know my youngest learned a lot about responsibility, working with the public, and especially feet during his multi-year tenure working in Ron’s store. We shouldn’t overlook this dimension of his contribution to our community as he heads off to a well-deserved retirement.
Absolutely! Both my oldest (now a college senior) and youngest (a NCHS freshman) daughters started working for Ron at age 15 and our family can’t thank Ron and Tina enough for all they’ve taught the girls and the fun, loving work environment they created at NBNC. I’ve known Ron for more than 35 years and he and Tina are definitely like family to us. So happy for them, sad for all of us!
Ron and Tina are a delight and we have loved getting to know them and shopping with them. My family is devastated that they are leaving!! We hope the new owners are as competent and entertaining!!!
Wishing them the best. Their service has always been outstanding and an example to the community at large.