LOOKING TO THE NEW YEAR
Several new businesses are expected to open in Conn. in 2024
From fast foods chains to new recreational cannabis shops, Connecticut’s business landscape is expected to expand in 2024 with a slew of new businesses.
Some of these new anticipated businesses include the Connecticut premiere of the Lousiana-based fast food chain Raising Canes, a whole new crop of Whole Foods locations and the unveiling of the National Coast Guard Museum, which has been in development for decades.
These are some of the new and notable businesses expected to open their doors in Connecticut in 2024.
Restaurants
Birdcode Hot Chicken; Vernon, New Britain and Canton
For three years, Brandi and Phil Killoran have been working to perfect the menu and service at Birdcode Hot Chicken, their Nashville hot chicken restaurant on West Hartford’s Park Road. As 2024 approaches, the couple looks ahead to statewide expansion, with new locations in the works. The Killorans’ planned Darien restaurant, at 151 Post Road on the Norwalk border, opens in December with the other three upcoming locations opening in 2024, Brandi Killoran said. — Leeanne Griffin
Boost Bowls, Danbury and Mystic
Boost Bowls, which offers bowls filled with acai, pitaya, quinoa, bee pollen and fresh fruit, will be opening locations in Danbury and Mystic in 2024. Boost Bowls currently operates three Connecticut locations: 16 P.T. Barnum Square, Bethel; Big Y Plaza, 6 Queen St., Newtown and 981 Farmington Ave., West Hartford. — Sandra Diamond Fox
Chip City, Darien and West Hartford
Chip City, which rotates more than 40 unique flavors every year, opened its first Connecticut location in Fairfield this year. Chip City has plans for a Darien location, at 112 Heights Road, for its second Connecticut outpost, followed by another in West Hartford’s Blue Back Square at 67 Memorial Road, in 2024. — Leeanne Griffin
Eighth District Distilling Co., Manchester
Eighth District Distilling Co., a new venture by Manchester resident and distiller Tony Gugino, hopes to open its doors by March. Gugino said his new business, named after the recently shuttered Eighth Utilities District, would be located at the former site of Onyx Moonshine, the only other commercial distiller to have opened in town. Gugino said his distillery would be “super tiny” with roughly 700-squarefoot of production space focused on smaller batches of gin, rum and whiskey, with some off-site aging for larger runs. — Joseph Villanova
Hartford Baking Co., South Windsor
Hartford Baking Co. is opening a South Windsor location at 150 Sullivan Ave. in the spring of 2024, the company announced on Nov. 16. The 3,000square-foot space will offer a drive-through option, as well as an expanded menu of sandwiches, bakery items and prepared foods, president Scott Kluger said in a statement. — Leeanne Griffin
New restaurant at Mohegan Sun, Uncasville
Mohegan Sun has closed four restaurants in its Earth food court in preparation for a new incoming concept, which will arrive in spring 2024, the casino confirmed in December. Mezze Mediterranean, Jasper White’s Summer Shack Express, Southside (with cheesesteaks and sub sandwiches) and The Original SoupMan are the tenants that have closed to make way for the new restaurant, a Mohegan spokeperson in an email. — Leeanne Griffin
P.F. Chang’s, Milford
A P.F. Chang’s restaurant planned at Connecticut Post Mall in Milford is now scheduled to open more than a year later than originally planned. Mall officials had previously said that the Asian dining chain’s latest establishment would open this spring. But in response to an inquiry from CT Insider, a spokesperson for P.F. Chang’s said in an email this week that, “P.F. Chang’s looks forward to serving guests at Connecticut Post Mall. They anticipate opening (in) late 2024 and will share more information closer to that time.” — Paul Schott
PITA, Glastonbury
Gina Luari’s The Statement Group, best known for The Place 2 Be, is expanding again, as she plans to open PITA, an upscale Mediterranean restaurant in Glastonbury, next spring. PITA is taking the space formerly home to Max Amore at 140 Glastonbury Boulevard in the Somerset Square retail and lifestyle center, Luari confirmed. The Italian restaurant by Max Hospitality closed in 2019 after 25 years in business, and has been vacant ever since. — Leeanne Griffin
Raising Cane’s, Enfield and Simsbury
Raising Cane’s, a Louisianabased fast-food chain, is expected to open two locations in Connecticut in 2024. The Simsbury location, which was approved in July, will be 3,284square-feet and include a drivethru and outdoor patio area. The Enfield location, which was announced in 2022, is projected to open in the second quarter of 2024, a spokesperson confirmed by email in October. The opening date for a Simsbury location has not yet been set. — Leeanne Griffin and Natasha Sokoloff
Teriyaki Madness; Avon, Enfield, Hamden, Manchester and West Hartford
Teriyaki Madness, a fastcasual Asian restaurant chain
that specializes in made-toorder bowls, is coming to Connecticut. Franchisees Ken Schanke and Audrey Poynton of Somers plan to open eight locations in the state. Currently, there are plans to open Teriyaki Madness locations in Avon, Enfield, Hamden, Manchester and West Hartford. — Leeanne Griffin
Shopping and grocery stores
Big Y, Middletown
Construction on the new $22 million, 52,000-square-foot Big Y World Class Market is currently underway in the south end of Middletown. The supermarket is expected to open in summer 2024. — Cassandra Day
L.L. Bean, Enfield
The state’s fourth L.L. Bean location will be going into the space previously occupied by Bed Bath & Beyond in Enfield’s Brookside Plaza. L.L. Bean currently has three other locations in Connecticut — at the Promenade Shops at Evergreen Walk in South Windsor, at Danbury Fair Mall and at the Shops at Yale in New Haven — as well as a store a few miles off I-91 in Hadley, Mass. — Susan Danseyar
Meadow Commons, Newington
Meadow Commons will offer 99,500 square feet of retail space, with 45,000 square feet of that space carved out for a yet-unannounced grocery store anchoring the development, said Jeremy Grossman, a senior vice president with the Massachusetts-based Grossman Development Group. The retail portion will also include restaurants, with Sally’s Apizza and Shake Shack taking some of the space, Grossman said. A residential component will include 269 apartment units, with residents expected to begin moving in some time during the spring of 2024. — Luther Turmelle
Whole Foods; Stamford, Old Saybrook and South Windsor
A new Whole Foods is planned for South Windsor at The Promenade Shops at Evergreen Walk. That store is scheduled to open during the first quarter of 2024, according to officials with Greenwich-based Charter Realty & Development, which manages Evergreen Walk. Meanwhile, another Whole Foods is being built at 110 High Ridge Road in Stamford, where Lord & Taylor was before it went out of business in February 2021. No opening date has been announced for the Stamford location. The third upcoming location for the grocery chain is slated for Old Saybrook at the intersection of Spencer Plains Road and Route 1.— Luther Turmelle
Other businesses
Delamar hotels, Westport and Mystic
In Westport, the new Delamar will reinvigorate a property that has been dormant in the past few years. The former Westport Inn was one of a number of hotels across the state to shut down in the wake of economic shutdowns during the first few months of the pandemic, in 2020. Greenwich Hospitality Group aims to open Delamar Westport in the late third quarter or early fourth quarter of 2024. The Mystic hotel, which will exist on the Mystic Seaport campus, is scheduled to be completed in the fall of 2024. The two new Delamar hotels will complement three existing Delamar properties in Connecticut: at Greenwich Harbor, the Southport section of Fairfield and in the center of West Hartford. — Paul Schott
Fine Fettle, Norwalk
Fine Fettle is expected to open its Norwalk retail cannabis shop in early January. Fine Fettle’s 12 Research Drive location in Stamford, which sells both recreational and medical cannabis, opened its doors for the first time on Jan. 10, 2023, when the state launched its legal market. — Kalleen Rose Ozanic
Higher Collective; Bridgeport, Hamden and Torrington
The Hamden Planning and Zoning Commission granted a special exception permit to Higher Collective to convert P&M Fine Foods, an Italian market, deli and catering company at 3825 Whitney Ave. into a retail cannabis establishment, which is slated to open in spring 2024. Higher Collective also plans to open stores in Torrington and Bridgeport in spring 2024, according to its website. — Austin Mirmina
National Coast Guard Museum, New London
The U.S. Coast Guard broke ground in August 2022 at a riverfront site on the Coast Guard Academy property for a new museum whose 80,000 square feet of exhibition space will feature interactive exhibits, programs and STEM-based educational programs. It’s expected to open in 2024. — Douglas P. Clement