The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Westport closings highlight turbulent times for Conn. retail
In the past couple of weeks, one of Connecticut’s most embattled economic sectors has also become an increasingly politicized one.
Amid protests held in the area recently in response to the May 25 police killing of George Floyd, a few national retailers including Lululemon and Tiffany and Co. temporarily boarded up their windows this week in downtown Westport and Greenwich.
Apparently aimed at warding off potential property crimes — even though the demonstrations proceeded peacefully — those maneuvers exasperated state Sen. Will Haskell, D-Westport, who chastised some of those companies on Twitter.
Haskell’s criticism highlighted a period of intense challenges for retailers in Connecticut in which they are weighing how to respond to the protests, while also grappling with the disruption wrought by the coronavirus pandemic and trying to reinvigorate customer demand.
“We have been in close communication with retailers anyway about COVID-19 and created an even closer line of dialogue,” said Randy Herbertson, president of the Westport Downtown Merchants Association. “The protests have just been a further dimension we’ve been working with them to adapt to as they start to reopen.”
Debate about shutting up shop
In Westport, Lululemon, Tiffany, Lucky Brand and Sunglass Hut covered up their storefronts. Tiffany has a store on Post Road East, while the others’ establishments are yards away on Main Street.
They did not consult Westport Town Hall, according to First Selectman Jim Marpe.
“I have to assume they were following their corporate policy, and it was likely not a local decision,” Marpe said. “I was disappointed that these particular stores felt that they needed to board up their windows. Having said that, business owners have to make their own decisions on how they want to protect their property. It’s not for me to say ‘Don’t do that,’ just because it might not be an attractive picture.”
A number of other retailers have taken similar in other parts of Connecticut and cities outside the state. In downtown Greenwich, Apple, Baccarat, Lululemon, Hermes, Fjallraven, Sunglass Hut and Warby Parker installed plywood barriers over their stores on Greenwich Avenue.
Those stores represented outliers in Westport and Greenwich, with store in those town centers otherwise keeping their storefronts open or at least unobstructed from public view.
Still, Haskell took exception to the barricaded windows.
“Hey, @lululemon and @tiffanyandco, this is not productive,” he said Wednesday on Twitter. “Our community is engaging in an honest, overdue and peaceful conversation about race … and this is how you’ve responded. Please do better and maybe join the conversation to see for yourself.”
Supporters such as state Rep. Jonathan Steinberg, D-Westport, said that Haskell had raised valid concerns.
“I’d interpret his post as a suggestion that these two stores may have overreacted, perhaps in an abundance of caution,” said Steinberg, who led a town committee focused on downtown revitalization before he was elected to the state legislature in 2010. “As members of our town’s retail community, they might be mindful of the optics of boarded storefronts.”
Many on Twitter, however, criticized Haskell for what they saw as an unfair challenge to those retailers’ right to protect their property.
State Rep. Gail Lavielle, R-Westport, questioned the purpose of scolding on companies that are based out of state, such as Vancouver, Canada-headquartered
Lululemon and Manhattanbased Tiffany. Lavielle also cited Lululemon’s declaration of support on its website for the Black Lives Matter movement.
“It’s pretty easy to make a political point by aiming criticism at people who can’t vote for you and are way outside the community,” Lavielle said. “I cannot imagine that a politician concerned about sentiments deep in the community would take off after a local pizza restaurant or a gift shop that’s been there for decades.”
Messages left for Lululemon and Tiffany were not returned.
Safe for business in the suburbs
Amid the unrest in the past two weeks, retailers have become targets in many U.S. cities — including a spate of attacks on stores in New York City.
During the same timeframe, Connecticut has largely avoided such disorder. Protests last week in cities and towns including Greenwich, Westport, New Canaan and Stamford unfolded peacefully, and looting has not been reported in the state.
The latest demonstration in downtown Westport took place Friday, with a turnout that Marpe estimated between approximately 1,200 and 1,500.
“There was no damage that anybody is aware of,” Marpe said after Friday’s event. “The demonstrators were well-behaved, and the demonstration broke up peacefully.”
Not necessarily perpetrated by any protesters, a mishmash of graffiti that alternately denounced and supported President Donald Trump was scrawled over the plywood covering the Westport Tiffany store.
Within a few days, some companies were rethinking the reinforcements. By Thursday, Lululemon and Sunglass Hut had, respectively, removed the boarding from their Westport and Greenwich stores.
“Do stores have a right to protect their property? Absolutely. Should they be worried about ‘out of town elements’ coming to Westport to riot and loot? I think that’s unwarranted,” Steinberg said. “Should they fear Westporters? Certainly not.”
That confidence extended across the aisle.
“I think there’s a very strong sense of confidence in the local police force,” Lavielle said. “The police in Westport ... they’ve been very open at talking with folks who have concerns about this whole thing.”
Reviving retail
Amid the protests, retailers are charting comebacks during the first phase of the state’s economic reopening during the coronavirus crisis.
Retail has taken one of the heaviest blows from the pandemic, losing some 38,000 jobs in the state in April.
While it remains one of the state’s premier shopping destinations, downtown Westport had already contended with significant challenges.
E-commerce’s unrelenting rise has contributed to a string of vacancies that pockmark the town center. This year has seen the closings of stores for Restoration Hardware on Post Road East and Banana Republic and women’s Brooks Brothers on Main Street.
Downtown Westport has also had to reckon with competition for customers and retail leases from the SoNo Collection mall in Norwalk, which opened last October.
Marpe and the Westport DMA’s Herbertson said they remained sanguine about the town center’s prospects. They cited publicly and privately funded upgrades including flood-control measures, new sidewalks and planters and a series of building improvements.
In the past week, the town’s Board of Selectmen approved the elimination of parking spaces on the lower half of Main Street, a decision that essentially widens the sidewalks and facilitates physical distancing among pedestrians.
The recent changes aim to attract more shoppers and tenants. Upcoming store openings in the downtown include two additions to Main Street, Johnny Was and Robert Redford’s Sundance retail brand.
“I would hope that we’re sending a signal to the commercial space realtors who can send a signal to retailers looking for space to say ‘Look, the town is trying to bring people to your storefront, so they feel comfortable from a health standpoint, but also to allow ease of access for foot traffic,’ ” Marpe said. “When you have, in effect, a horizontal mall outdoors, you need to be pedestrian friendly.”
pschott@stamfordadvocate. com; Twitter: @paulschott