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).
“We always firmly believe when a door closes, two more doors open,” English said. “We’re just moving forward, trying to be sensible and make the right moves to grow our company in the right direction.”
He added: “It’s just a time right now—our economy and our country goes through these moments—where things have gotten super expensive.”
“Everything has gone up through the roof, and yet profits haven’t gone up that much,” he said. “You still have to be aggressive and sensible because you don’t want people going online and finding a similar product for less money. So you have to be very sensible the way you price your goods. We try to make an experience for people to come in and get an immersive experience.”
A big part of that immersive experience has been the café at The Adirondack Store, they said, and that’s an element that the couple is bringing to its Tupper Lake, N.Y. store while continuing to own and operate in the original Lake Placed, N.Y. location (they own the buildings at those stores).
“Every single day people just come and congregate, have their coffees and their matchas, and they just are here to visit,” English said.
Shin said “it’s the people” that make a shop like The Adirondack Store work.
“It’s the feeling that they get when they come in, which makes them want to come in to shop rather than shop online—even though they’re still going to shop online—but they want to have a personal experience,” he said. “Having the coffee bar was one of the best decisions because we get engagement with people who come in for coffee. It’s not a loss leader because they come in for coffee and they’ll buy a gift or they’ll remember to come in later. But some businesses don’t have that luxury of having a coffee bar for daily traffic. So that’s been a real plus. And we would notice that’s a trend in retail that’s been happening for the past decade, but really since COVID and especially in New York City. Coffee and matcha in retail is really big.”
Laura Budd, executive director of the New Canaan Chamber of Commerce, where Shin was a board member, said she’s “so disappointed to see The Adirondack Store leave Elm Street this week.”
“Stephen and Christopher built a beautiful community around their tore and shopping and or grabbing a coffee there was a treat for resident and a draw for visitors to New Canaan,” Budd said. “Stephen was an important voice on the Chamber board and we will miss him. The good news is we know where to find him and the stores unique product selection in upstate New York and online.”
Shin said that since news began to spread about the store’s imminent closing (5 p.m. Friday), many people have come in “just expressing their sadness and their sympathies and their disappointment that we were leaving.”
“That just really touched me, touched us, just the fact that people would take the time,” Shin said. “You don’t think about it, but we’re a part of their daily lives in some cases. We have people that come daily to get their cold brew or their coffee and so to hear those sentiments from people really has meant the world. It really just makes it worth it. You just think, ‘Wow.’ You don’t really realize how much you’ve touched people. It’s been tremendously touching to hear.”
English and Shin said they are planning to launch a new website so loyal customers can continue shopping at The Adirondack Store, and aren’t ruling out a return to the area if the right situation presents itself.
English said he and Shin have “many wonderful future goals moving ahead.”
“Who knows?” English said. “If we found that right piece of real estate that we could own, we might pop up down this region again.”
He added: “We would never rent again. Like our stores up north, we want to own.”
Shin said he hopes that whoever follows The Adirondack Store at its two-level Elm Street space “will be something that the community loves.”
“I know they’ll support it, but something that is great for New Canaan, that can add to the community, that they do as much engagement,” Shin said. “Because we participated in so much. We always donated to any charity if they asked us. We’re out there on the Halloween Block Parade. I’m giving out candy in a costume. The Holiday Strolls, the Taste Strolls, the Sidewalk Sales. I hope that they really engage with the community because I think that the community feels that and wants to support someone who’s really engaged with them. And people love New Canaan. They move here because of the town, the school systems, the town, the people. And I just hope that whatever it is that comes after, that they really do engage and love the community as much as we did.”