Change is coming to the Avenue
Plans call for ‘community building’ retail
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 police officers 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 They’ve been replaced by officers in bright blue windbreakers on fat-tired e-bikes, as well as an enhanced plainclothes unit, though the switch has not yet been finalized by town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. 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 “bumpouts,” 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 also have 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-and-mortar 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 California-style 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 mom-and-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 sought-after 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.”