Business

‘Spicing Up’ New Canaan: Grand Opening of Spice and Tea Exchange Set for Friday

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The New Canaanite 2024 Summer Internship Program is sponsored by Karp Associates. A melting pot of countries, exotic flavors and aromatic spices exists here, in our very own backyard. Enter the Spice and Tea Exchange, nestled downtown in the middle of Main Street. 

Pulling open the front doors invites a journey for the senses: displays abundant with clear glass jars housing colorful contents; a strong aroma of fragrant spices wafting through the air; and a soft bubbling noise emanating from the tea dispensers in the back, which contain the week’s newest selections. The Spice & Tea Exchange is a franchise that has been in business for about 16 years, growing out of a mom-and-pop store, said store owner Pam Robinson. “This is the 92nd store to open,” Robinson said.

Business

‘Sidewalk Sale’ Set for Saturday, July 20 [Q&A]

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One of the community’s most anticipated summer traditions—the annual Village Fair & Sidewalk Sale downtown—is coming Saturday, July 20. We put some questions to Laura Budd, executive director of the New Canaan Chamber of Commerce, ahead of the big sale. 

Here’s our exchange. ***

What are some of the highlights of this year’s Sidewalk Sale on Saturday, July 20? The event is special because it reflects a full community effort. Along with great deals from amazing retailers you can check in with some of our favorite non-profits, hear music from local bands, enjoy food from many of our restaurants and cafes and the YMCA will have its amazing Family Entertainment Zone at the Elm/Main intersection. 

What happens on Friday, the day before the official Sidewalk Sale?

Augusto Baldini

New Canaan Teen Launches Portable Pizzeria

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Augusto Baldini, 17, a pure-blooded Italian who graduated from New Canaan High School two weeks ago, half-seriously proposed the idea of a portable pizzeria business with his family several weeks ago. He’d been cooking pizza for his family in their wood-fired oven on the patio, as they like to do in the summer, and innocently asked, “What if I started this pizza business where I went house-to-house and made pizzas for people?”

“They said, ‘Sure, it could be a good idea,’ but we never really thought of it again,” Baldini recalled on a recent morning during an interview at New Canaan Library. “And then I had an event for my mom. She hosted a bunch of people over for work at our house, and she asked would I mind cooking pizzas for them? I said sure, of course.

Business

‘Polestar’ Auto Dealership Planned for Park and Cherry Streets

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A new car dealership is planned for the corner of Park and Cherry Streets, a vacant structure long known to locals as the “Merrill Lynch building.”

According to a Zoning Permit application filed on behalf of property owner DP 4 Cherry Street LLC, the property at 4 Cherry St. will be converted into an “auto dealership.”

Renderings that accompany the application show a sign outside the building that says ‘Polestar.’

Polestar is a Swedish-born manufacturer of electric vehicles, according to the company’s website. The existing building, which currently is undergoing renovation, will have four bays for vehicles inside, renderings show. Interior renovations call for a “new wetbar,” according to the plans. It isn’t clear just when the new dealership will open or whether it will operate as a sales floor or show floor.

Business

‘It’s Just So Rewarding’: New Canaan Woman Launches Girls’ Dress Line

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New Canaan’s Morgan Clifford is no stranger to the fashion industry. 

Her eponymous outerwear line has dressed stars from Nikki Hilton to Selena Gomez, and is found in stores such as Loveshackfancy. 

Her newest venture? A line of girls dresses called ‘Emlagh.’

“I wanted to do something totally different, and I love girls’ dresses,” Clifford said. “It just kind of evolved into starting an entirely separate line.”

After launching her own fashion label in New York City in 2015, selling outerwear online, Clifford—a graduate of Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, N.Y.—moved to New Canaan with her young family. Now she’s launched the new line, which is seeing strong uptake in the early going, and is looking to future creations. 

Clifford also created ‘Emlagh’ because she has a daughter of her own. 

Clifford said creation and distribution of the Emlagh line has gone smoothly, in part, because it’s her second brand launch.  “I already had all the contacts,” she said.