Business

Local Businesses Q&A: Walter Stewart’s Market and Stewarts Wine & Spirits

By |

Today’s installment of our Q&A series with a local business is with Doug Stewart Walter Stewart’s Market and Stewarts Wine & Spirits on Elm Street. Here’s our exchange:

New Canaanite: Doug, you’re very plugged into the local business community, as an owner of one of New Canaan’s best-established businesses, a member of the Chamber of Commerce board and a resident yourself. What is your sense of consumer demand this holiday shopping season, and of the health of our local business community? Doug Stewart: A main draw to New Canaan is our vibrant, charming downtown. With so many new families in town now and the holiday season there is a lot of great energy in New Canaan.

Around Town

Did You Hear … ?

By |

New Canaan Police are investigating a bicycle reported stolen at 7:10 p.m. Monday from the Thrift Store at Locust Avenue and Main Street. ***

Orders are open for this year’s New Canaan Ornaments, celebrating local heroes of the COVID-19 pandemic. Designed by ornament co-chair Faith Kerchoff and cut by her husband, John, they depict:

The New Canaan Fire Department with their “Drive By Birthday Parades,” which were enjoyed by children and their families.  
Walter Stewart’s Market for keeping everyone fed, making deliveries and pick-ups possible, as well as senior only shopping hours. The Farmers Market which took paid orders for pickup. The New Canaan gnome, which was created by the New Canaan Beautification League as part of their holiday decoration for the town.

Bankwell

‘It’s the Right Thing To Do’: Local Businesses Urge or Require Employees To Get Vaccinated

By |

Bankwell CEO Chris Gruseke and his management team already were tracking COVID-19 infection rates, deaths and government regulations related to the pandemic daily as the rollout of vaccines got underway earlier this year. The New Canaan-based company was in the early phases of its widely anticipated move into a new building at Elm and Grove Streets, and as workers moved into offices and cubicles, Gruseke and his managers “were encouraging people to get the vaccine, we were wearing our buttons and badges around the office,” he said. “Being an employer and being a public employer and being responsible for other people’s lives, also being a member of the community, we are monitoring this daily,” Gruseke, a New Canaan resident, said from his glass-windowed corner office at 258 Elm St. “What are the regulation changes and what is happening in Connecticut and what the CDC is saying? And we were always on the most conservative ends of the discussion.

Around Town

Q&A: 10th Annual ‘Taste of New Canaan Stroll’ Set for Wednesday

By |

The New Canaan Chamber of Commerce is offering three different walking tours of the downtown for an annual fundraiser that offers participants a chance to sample some of the best local cuisine. The ‘Taste of New Canaan Stroll,’ benefiting the local food pantry, kicks off at 5 p.m. Wednesday. Limited tickets for the “Taste Tour” (10 stops), “Family Fiesta” (six stops) and “Wine Trail” (10 stops) are available through the Chamber website. We put some questions to Laura Budd, the Chamber’s executive director, ahead of this year’s Stroll. Our exchange follows.

Around Town

Did You Hear … ? [UPDATED]

By |

A vehicle parked at Irwin Park had its window smashed and a purse stolen from it, according to a report police received at 1:07 p.m. last Saturday. ***

Asked at Tuesday’s Board of Selectmen meeting for an update on Metro-North Railroad service, which grew limited as the COVID-19 pandemic set in, First Selectman Kevin Moynihan said a “very favorable” announcement was expected “soon” from the state. “But I cannot pre-announce anything,” Moynihan said. ***

A motorist was cited for reckless driving and failure to drive right after crossing the centerline at the curve in the area of 93 Old Stamford Road and striking another vehicle at about 7:30 a.m. on July 29, police said. The drivers of both cars suffered minor injuries and were transported to the Norwalk Hospital Emergency Room by New Canaan Emergency Medical Services.