NEW CANAAN – A survey of the town’s traditional storefronts Tuesday finds vacancies have nearly halved from a year ago, with new businesses coming to town and others expanding.
The village, or downtown New Canaan, has 209 traditional street-level storefronts. Of these, 12 are vacant, putting the vacancy rate at 5.7 percent. On May 3, 2021, Hearst counted 23 vacancies, or 11 percent of the storefronts that have been vacated. The trend started at the end of last year when those the numbers had already dropped up to 19 vacancies.
“I feel great. I feel very, very positive,” Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Laura Budd said Tuesday.
The The city’s main retail business center is Elm Street, which has 68 traditional storefronts distributed in three blocks. Of that total, five may appear empty, but are actually in a state of flux, as businesses previously in the location are preparing for a move or expansion and new businesses are preparing to open.
In this analysis, a shop is not considered empty if it has been rented out, even if the new business has yet to move, as in Carrer de l’Om, 137, where Irresistables was located and now hangs the permission for a new business. .
“What I especially like to see are businesses and businesses that are not just staying here, but businesses that are expanding. I see that as a very healthy sign that they’re really investing in New Canaan as a community and I see that the our residents and visitors make a strong customer base,” Budd said.
Manfredi Jewels, Dunkin’ Donuts, New Canaan Pharmacy and the owners of Sole are in various stages of expansion.
Dunkin Donuts is moving to the corner of Elm Street and South, where Your CBD Store was located, while the current location is expanding. Your CBD store has now moved to 7 Elm St.
A new restaurant is in the works next to Sole, where Fat Face used to be at 103 Elm St. Z Hospitality Group, owner of Sole, is opening a second restaurant. The organization has applied to the Planning and Zoning Commission to expand the rear of the building at 105 Elm St.
Mary Jane Setter moved her business, Togs, to the corner at 9 South Ave. on Aug. 1 after being in the same location on Elm Street for 32 years while its neighbor, Manfredi’s Jewels at 72 Elm St., is expanding.
He said he has received positive feedback about his new location from customers, as it “feels like home only better.” The entrance is wider, their locker rooms are bigger and everything has been recently renovated, he said.
Carpenters are busy on East Avenue preparing the space next to the New Canaan Pharmacy at 44 East Ave. to expand next door where Tony’s Salon had been.
On Fores Street, Combine-X will set up shop, occupying half of the space previously leased by Pet Valu at 21 Forest St. The block with 14 storefronts is almost completely occupied.
New businesses are also opening on Carrer Major.
Migoto has a sign at 164 Main St., G Salon is open at 64 Main St. where Subway was located and Luscious has been open since last year.
There are 40 storefronts on Main Street in the three blocks between Locust Avenue and East Maple with five vacancies. Part of that is due to a main building near the corner of Elm and Main streets, where the Greenwich Pharmacy has vacated. The large space where New Balance was located also remains empty.
There are also some closings on Park Street, including the large space that has housed Core Burn Pilates, and East Maple no longer has a laundromat.
The vacancy count focused on typical street-level storefronts, which meant that closed businesses, such as Thali on Main Street, were not counted as they do not have a typical storefront. According to this criterion, the Citi Bank at the corner of Park and Elm streets was counted in the total number.
Each business was counted as one, regardless of location size, and unoccupied storefronts were counted with doors facing the street.