Change is coming to Greenwich Avenue
A new breed of retailers, traffic changes, different law enforcement techniques and more are giving a new flavor to the street
GREENWICH — The changes are coming slowly, and they aren’t all visible to the shoppers, diners and day-trippers who take to Greenwich Avenue. But change is coming to the world-famous shopping district and Greenwich’s communal front porch.
The subtle transformation now in progress will make the thoroughfare a little more contemporary, wired, walkable, “green” and locally oriented, according to town officials, merchants and real estate executives. The Avenue will still the exude glamour and style that it has built its reputation on, it seems assured, but it may be becoming a bit more contemporary, modern and dynamic.
The first big change has already happened on the Avenue — the elimination of the cops directing motorists, or scolding pedestrians who ventured into the crosswalk without permission. The officers who directed traffic on the Avenue, once wearing pith helmets in summer months, were pulled off that post last summer. They’ve been replaced by officers in bright blue windbreakers on fat-tired eBikes, electronic bikes, as well as an enhanced plainclothes unit, though the switch has not yet been finalized by town leaders.
A new “traffic calming” project to slow cars and add greenery to the Avenue will be rolled out this spring.
And a new breed of retailers has also been sprouting up along the Avenue, promoting sustainability, “community-building” and environmentally friendly consumer products. In the old Ralph Lauren building, once home to an iconic clothing brand, is due to be converted to mixed-commercial operation with a restaurant, lounge and bicycle-oriented transportation center. The developers’ representatives say their goal is to create “a community gathering space ... offering a means for nourishment, collaboration, relaxation, wellness and sustainability.”
First Selectman Fred Camillo said the central business district has to change with the times, and some
modernizing influences could be a good thing.
“We have great respect for our past here,” Camillo said. “But we also have a vision for the future. If that vision includes green technology, and less stationary practices, like the cop in the middle of the street, now on bikes and walking on the beat, we’re doing it.
“Greenwich has also sold itself as a championship team. But the team gets old, sometimes you’ve got to come in new players. We have to do the same thing, up our game a little bit. Economically, environmentally and physically, it’s a good thing, and we want to promote an active lifestyle,” he said.
First to come in the new look for the Avenue is a streetscape improvement project scheduled to begin in March, carried out by the town and the Public Works Department, that could be
completed by the start of summer.
Curb extensions will be added at Elm Street. Known as “bump-outs,” the extensions slow down cars, as well as make it easier for pedestrians to cross the Avenue, a form of “traffic calming.” The plan also includes adding new decorative features — plantings, benches and a bike rack, as well as new lighting. The town is spending $250,000 on the project.
A number of new businesses have also been opening with innovative marketing or retail approaches. The aim is to become more interactive with customers beyond the cash register, part of a growing movement in retail to promote engagement and “community-building,” as it’s known in the trade.
“The best way to draw shoppers into brick-andmortar stores is to create a connection beyond the transaction,”
says national business expert Michael Decker. “In order to move forward, both large and small retailers need to... look back to the days when stores naturally supported their communities.”
That retail philosophy is playing out up and down Greenwich Avenue at a number of ventures that opened in 2020. A new eatery, Sweetgreen, hired local artist Naomi Clark to create custom art for the restaurant, and the chain supports “community health and small and mid-size growers that farm sustainably,” according to the company.
Boll and Branch, which sells sheets and bedding, promotes a sustainable production process, fair labor practices and environmental stewardship. “Pop-up” stores, businesses that temporarily occupy a storefront to sell their wares, have also
become something of a trend, a practice that town leaders and the Planning and Zoning Commission have embraced.
The Jenni Kayne store, selling Californiastyle clothing and home decor, has been holding community events once a month, once offering a presentation on nutrition and organics from a local grocery-business operator, Mike Geller. Store manager Katja Shrouder said the event drew a good-size crowd, all observing public-safety protocols. “People are ready to get out of their houses,” she said, “Everyone was thrilled to be here.” Other presentations at the store have touched on meditation and vitamin use.
“It’s all about community-building, and introducing the wellness lifestyle to our customers, it’s not about shopping at all,” said Shrouder, a Greenwich resident with a background in marketing. “And it’s supporting local businesses, too.”
In many ways, the shift from one kind of retail experience to another is an old story on Greenwich Avenue. Old-timers recall when a bowling alley once operated there, and momand-pop retail operators sold a wide range of merchandise at every price point. Big chains and retailers with international marketing budgets came to the broad commercial thoroughfare in the 1990s and drove most of those old stores away. Mead’s Stationery, which opened in 1919 on Greenwich Avenue,
closed in 1999. Greenwich Hardware, which opened on the Avenue in 1904, relocated to a less costly location on Railroad Avenue in 2016. And the long row of elm trees that once provided a gracious green canopy over the Avenue’s sidewalks were all felled by Dutch Elm disease, the last one chopped down in 1983.
Alyssa Keleshian, a real-estate executive whose father ran a well-known business on the Avenue, thinks the Greenwich business district has much to offer now, as it did in the past. Though she is concerned about the lack of parking and how that can pose a big challenge, she believes Greenwich Avenue has a distinctiveness that will endure.
“Greenwich has always been a soughtafter market for leading retail brands, and that rings true today,” she wrote in an email. “The fact that one can get anything one needs by shopping our downtowns, without having to go to a cold mall, or engaging in a faceless transactions online, proves that Greenwich continues to evolve in tune with today’s consumer desires.”
She said the unique flavor of the town and its central shopping corridor “bring a sense of community closeness.” As long as the town maintains its sense of self without disrupting the continuity to the past — and provides enough parking — Keleshian said, it will remain a place where “people, and businesses, find it a great place to live, shop and play.”
NEW HAVEN — Qinxuan Pan, named a person of interest in the killing of a Yale graduate student, allegedly stole an SUV, changed his cellphone number and dropped out of contact with his family ahead of the incident, according to a police report.
The Attleboro District Courthouse in Massachusetts released the report, written by Mansfield, Mass., police to secure a warrant for Pan’s arrest.
In the report, Officer Joshua Ellender said a salesman at a local dealership had reported a car stolen at around 7:30 p.m. Feb. 6, the day Kevin Jiang was killed.
According to the report, the salesman “explained that Qinxuan Pan walked in today and wanted to test drive” a blue GMC Terrain SUV and bring it to his mechanic for inspection before potentially buying it. Pan left with the vehicle around 11 a.m., according to the report.
The salesman asked Pan around 5:30 p.m. when he would be returning the vehicle. Pan initially asked for more time, saying he had a family emergency, then stopped responding to texts and calls after being told he needed to return the car by closing time at the dealership.
Ellender asked Malden police to check whether the vehicle was at Pan’s residence in that community.
Pan’s mother reportedly told Malden police that Pan had “changed his cell phone number and wouldn’t tell them where he was,” but that he would return the vehicle.
A call from Hearst Connecticut
Media to a number for Pan’s home in Malden Friday was unsuccessful, as the line had been disconnected.
The salesman also vouched for Pan, saying he believed he wasn’t stealing the car, as he seemed like a squared-away individual.
Ellender thus “delayed entering the vehicle as stolen and gave Qinxuan a chance to contact me or to return the vehicle,” he said in the report.
At 10:30 p.m., he checked on the matter; Pan had not returned the SUV. He entered the vehicle as stolen at 10:40 p.m., he said in the report.
He was then notified at 10:45 p.m. that North Haven police had reported “they had just towed the vehicle,” as Pan had gotten it stuck on railroad tracks while driving it in a scrap yard in Connecticut.
Pan allegedly had attached a commercial Connecticut license plate to the vehicle, replacing the dealer plate, according to the report.
In asking for the warrant, Ellender noted that Pan was believed to be potentially involved in “a serious criminal case” in New Haven, had concealed the vehicle’s identity, and “fled to another state” before New Haven police arrived to question him.
A nationwide manhunt has since ensued for Pan, considered a person of interest in Jiang’s death, with a $10,000 reward.
He reportedly last was seen in Georgia, according to the U.S. Marshals Office for Connecticut, and could be staying in the Duluth or Brookhaven areas of that state.
U.S. Marshal Matthew Duffy on Friday said there had been no developments in the search.
Jiang’s body was found around 8:30 p.m. Feb. 6 on Lawrence Street near its intersection with Nash Street, according to New Haven police.
Pan reportedly checked into the Best Western Hotel on Washington Avenue in North Haven around 10:30 p.m., roughly two hours after Jiang was killed.
Jiang was engaged to be married to Zion Perry; his fellow students and members of Trinity Baptist Church, where he volunteered, are raising funds to support his family.
Perry attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology at the same time as Pan, who is a graduate student there. Photos of the two of them interacting have been posted online; Perry has not returned requests for comment regarding them.
Police believe Pan was “in the area” at the time Jiang was killed, New Haven Police Chief Otoniel Reyes has said.
The department considers Pan a person of interest; at this time, he is not officially suspected of committing the shooting.
New Haven police previously said that anyone who knows of Pan’s whereabouts should use “extreme caution” and is asked to call the department at 203-946-6304.