Around Town

PHOTOS: Bargain-Hunters Hit New Canaan for Annual Sidewalk Sale

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Bargain-hunters descended on New Canaan in droves starting Saturday morning for the Village Fair & Sidewalk Sale, running through 4 p.m.

Parts of Forest, Main and Elm Streets were closed to pedestrian-only traffic for the major annual event, organized by the New Canaan Chamber of Commerce. “It’s going awesome,” the Chamber’s Laura Budd said as the Sidewalk Sale got into full swing. “It’s a beautiful day. The vendors are up and running and people are already shopping. We love to see it.

Business

New Canaan Music Earns ‘Business of the Year’ Honors

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Now more than ever, it takes both a special kind of business and business owner to succeed. New Canaan has seen many stores open and close their doors, and among those a special few have stayed up and running while being loved by our town’s residents. Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Tucker Murphy said New Canaan Music owner and town resident Phil Williams may be seen as a model for other businesses. “For retail to survive in a town like New Canaan, it has to be about the experience,” Murphy said. “Phil has done just that.”

On June 27, Williams will be recognized as “Business of the Year” during the Chamber’s Annual Awards Luncheon.

Business

PHOTOS: New Canaan Music Settles in on Main Street

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As New Canaan families return to town for sports practices and the start of the school, musicians and those learning how to play instruments will have a brand-new hub for musical activities. New Canaan Music spent much of August moving into its newly renovated, expanded home at 90 Main St.—a brightly lit, inviting space that had served for a few years as the temporary Post Office. “We love the new space,” New Canaan Music owner Phil Williams said on a recent afternoon. “Just being on Main Street is wonderful, it’s awesome.”

The shop—a combination of retail in front with lesson rooms in the back—has a larger space to showcase its merchandise and has made use of it, in part, by offering the full line of Squier guitars, including their Classic Vibes from Fender for electric guitars. “We are adding more acoustic guitars—our acoustic guitars are going to be better—and we have twice as many lesson rooms as we had before with bigger, better soundproofing,” he said.

Business

‘Subway’ Sandwich Shop To Reopen on Main Street

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Nearly four months after it closed, the Subway sandwich shop on Main Street is to be reopened within one week under new ownership, officials say. The national made-to-order sandwich shop could be reopened as early as Friday, or possibly Monday, according to Zack Ullah, a Norwalk resident who will manage the Subway at 64 Main St. The staff has been hired at Subway and Ullah said the shop is “going to do something special for ‘Back to School.’ ”

“I know they’re playing football and the camps are going on as well, so we can have them in or deliver for their convenience,” Ullah told NewCanaanite.com. Located directly opposite Town Hall and popular among both municipal workers there and the guys at the Fire Department up the street, Subway had been a fixture of downtown New Canaan for more than 25 years. A sign appeared in its window in April that the store was closing, just as the national chain closed hundreds of stores nationwide, faced with a slowdown in sales.

Business

‘Give It Everything’: Locals Gather at New Canaan Music for Session with ‘Steely Dan’ Touring Members

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New Canaan’s Will Cuoco, back home between his junior and senior years at the University of Vermont, dropped by his old workplace on Friday night to attend a night of music with two professionals currently touring with one of his favorite acts. Steely Dan, an innovative jazz rock outfit that attained global fame in the 1970’s and ‘80s, has been “very influential for me,” Cuoco, a 2014 NCHS graduate, said as he and others gathered at New Canaan Music downtown to see and play with a pair of the band’s touring members, keyboardist Jim Beard and guitarist Jon Herington. “They strike that perfect balance of complexity and accessibility,” Cuoco said. “I’m so curious as to Beard and Herington’s own process, I’ve heard them talk about having every note fit together, making everything choreographed and pre-planned. I’m personally wondering how to avoid a song becoming too structured.”

Seats at the event cost $100, and by 7:45 p.m. 16 musicians and fans sat down across from Herington and Beard as they answered questions about their careers, improvisation techniques, musical philosophies and songwriting tips.