Business
Dance Corner Plus, Walter Schalk’s Iconic Dancewear Shop on Morse Court, Closes after 30 Years
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By the time Walter Schalk opened a retail dancewear shop on Morse Court some 30 years ago, his famed dancing school—launched in 1959 with classes held in Ponus Ridge Chapel—already was well established in New Canaan. In fact, Dance Corner Plus at 1 Morse Court never was designed as a money-maker, Schalk said: He just wanted ready accessibility to dancewear for students in his popular program. Yet in recent years, with the rise of Internet shopping and big box stores that have connected with once-exclusive suppliers, that accessibility has become far easier for consumers. And that has prompted the new owner of Dance Corner Plus, Sarah Duffy, to shutter the store, for decades a fixture near the corner of Main Street. “The Walter Schalk School of Dance has been in business for 59 years and it’s been a tremendous success over the years, and I want to thank everybody for their support, including those who have supported Dance Corner, now closed after it was sold to Ms. Duffy,” Schalk told NewCanaanite.com.