Business

‘We’re So Thankful’: The Adirondack Store on Elm Street To Close Friday

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The Adirondack Store, a beloved retail shop and café that opened on Elm Street seven years ago, is closing its doors this week, the business’s owners say. Christopher English and Stephen Shin said they’re deeply thankful to the New Canaan community for making their store a unique and special place. 

“We’re so thankful that a community like New Canaan really supports its brick-and-mortar,” Shin said. “They come into town, they shop, and we truly have appreciated that, especially in the holidays, from Labor Day to Christmas Day.”

English said that when they opened the Elm Street location, he and Shin “never really imagined that it would turn into a social hub for the community.”

“That’s something we never expected,” English said. “But the people that have worked for us the seven years that we’ve basically been here are just loving and incredible.”

Shin added that those valued workers are “exceptional” and “a reflection of the community.”

“Every single person that’s ever worked for us has been incredible,” he added. English and Shin said that expenses have made the store too difficult to work financially, with $24,000 in monthly rent and bills that have risen steeply in recent years (for example, electric up from $1,200 to $4,000 per month, and health insurance up from $1,600 to $3,900).

Business

Adirondack Store: ‘We Plan To Continue To Expand and Build Our Brand’

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The owners of a popular store in downtown New Canaan say they’re working with their landlords, as they have in the past, amid a highly seasonal retail environment to ensure continued investment in the community. When it began fitting out its space on Elm Street, The Adirondack Store “invested in a 10-year commitment to New Canaan,” owner Christopher English said. “And we just wanted to put it out there that the blurb of what was put in, the court documents, is really not represented correctly because it says that the rent is $11,250 a month—that was the rent the first month that we opened,” English said, referring to this news article. “Our rent is actually $23,416.67 a month and continues to go up. So we have invested over $1 million in rent since we have been in New Canaan.

Business

Local Holiday Shopping: The Adirondack Store [Q&A]

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For this installment of our local holiday shopping series, we spoke on Thursday afternoon to Stephen Shin and Christopher English, co-owners of The Adirondack Store at 39 Elm St. Here’s our interview. ***

New Canaanite: How has the holiday shopping season been for you so far? Stephen Shin: It’s extremely busy. This town is pumping.

Business

Holiday Shopping 2023: The Adirondack Store

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For this installment of our local holiday shopping series, we talked to Stephen Shin, who owns The Adirondack Store at 39 Elm St. with husband Christopher English. Here’s our conversation. New Canaanite: Tell me a little bit about the store. Describe it generally for our readers.

Who Knew: A Very New Canaan Gift Guide

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‘Who Knew?’ is sponsored by Walter Stewart’s Market. 

The fun thing about getting older (besides knowing where all the candy is hidden) is that you start to enjoy giving gifts more than receiving them. There’s a midlife shift toward benevolence, whether brought on by parenthood, maturity, or working with a therapist to develop a more sensible attitude toward hoarding Legos. Turns out, ‘tis actually better to give than to receive. 

And when the holiday season rears its $960 billion head in mid-October, we all start to get the Gift Sweats. Not that we won’t find anything; that’s impossible when consumer culture confronts each of us with 4,000 to 10,000 advertising messages per day. But we fear that it won’t be the right thing.