Connecticut’s ‘Rodeo Drive’ Abandoned as Hedge Funds Collapse
Bloomberg
By Allison Abell Schwartz and Matt Townsend
Finding a parking spot for your Mercedes or BMW on Greenwich Avenue, the main shopping strip of the U.S. hedge-fund capital, used to be a challenge. Not anymore.
With the recession hammering retail sales, empty curbside spaces abound along the suburban Connecticut thoroughfare, known as the Rodeo Drive of the northeast, and “For Rent” signs decorate vacant storefronts. Ann Taylor, Banana Republic and Borders have all closed their Greenwich Avenue locations.
As banks and hedge funds cut jobs or close down in the worst financial crisis since the 1930s, Greenwich merchants are suffering sales declines. Some stores are simply packing it in. Many are renegotiating rents, cutting inventory or offering cheaper products.
“We never used to have one day with no sales,” said May Lai Ku, the manager of Cochni, a woman’s clothing store on the avenue. “Now that happens three to four times a month.”
Ku, 46, said her store had about $40,000 in sales in January 2008. This year, it will take about three months to make the same amount, with almost everything in the store discounted as much as 80 percent, she said.....
....Sales are down 50 percent from a year ago at Petit Patapon, a children’s clothing store on Greenwich Avenue, according to manager Nancy Harper, 58. At 3:30 p.m. on a Friday, the store hadn’t yet made a sale. It may close when its lease expires in October because the landlord is asking double the rent, Harper said. ...
....Plaza Too, a women’s shoe boutique with nine locations including one in Greenwich, experienced a 35 percent decline in sales in the fourth quarter. The chain may struggle to keep revenue from dropping more than the 30 percent it’s projecting for this year.
“It’s horrible,” Tom Mendes, the founder and owner, said in an interview. “It’s been rough since October.”....
....Jill duPont, owner of Greenwich Avenue clothing boutique Out of the Box, agrees.
“It used to be a mom-and-pop kind of town,” duPont said. “That has gone and been replaced by the nationals. At these prices, I’m not sure it’s going to come back.”....
....Rachel Ashwell Designs Inc., operator of the Shabby Chic home-furnishings chain, closed its Greenwich Avenue store. The company filed for bankruptcy protection in January.
Borders Group Inc. shut its Borders Express branch on the avenue in January in an effort to close underperforming stores, said Anne Roman, a company spokeswoman.
AnnTaylor Stores Inc. left Greenwich Avenue Jan. 24 as part of a program to shutter 117 underperforming locations by 2010, said spokeswoman Beth Warner.
Gap Inc., which closed the Greenwich Avenue Banana Republic last June, shutters stores for reasons including location and performance, according to Louise Callagy, a company spokeswoman. She declined to comment specifically on the Greenwich store......
....Not every shopkeeper is giving up on Greenwich. J. Crew Group Inc. opened a Madewell clothing store on the avenue this month.
Roberto Chiappelloni, owner of Manfredi Jewels, said he sold a $224,000 Vacheron Constantin watch two weeks ago to a collector......
Senate Tackles AIG Bonus Bill After House Approves Its Version
FOXNews
....But some Democrats, including freshmen Reps. Jim Himes, D-Conn., and Michael McMahon, D-N.Y., had planned to vote against the bill because they believed lawmakers were "rushing through" the process.
Himes and McMahon represent many Wall Street constituents in Greenwich, Conn., and Staten Island. But in the end, Himes relented and voted for the bill. ...
Himes and McMahon represent many Wall Street constituents in Greenwich, Conn., and Staten Island. But in the end, Himes relented and voted for the bill.
McMahon was one of only six Democrats who voted against the bill. The others were Reps. Walt Minnick, D-Idaho, Harry Mitchell, D-Ariz., Vic Snyder, D-Ark., Melissa Bean, D-Ill., and Larry Kissell, D-N.C.......
Dodd, Facing Opposition, Pushes Back
New York Times
ON a 48-hour swing through Connecticut last weekend, Senator Christopher J. Dodd began acting like a candidate for re-election, staging press events and commandeering a Sunday news show.
A newly aggressive Mr. Dodd was reacting to a spate of bad press and poor polling, including a Quinnipiac University survey showing him in a statistical tie with Rob Simmons, a former congressman who announced his candidacy last week.....
....Mr. Simmons, a former three-term congressman from Stonington, opened his campaign last Sunday. State Senator Sam S. F. Caligiuri of Waterbury said he expected to follow. Thomas C. Foley of Greenwich, a major Republican fund-raiser who was a development official in Iraq and ambassador to Ireland, was also weighing a run.. ...
The upper body stimulus plan
Stamford Advocate
"A lot of women start hiding their arms by their 30s," says Jen Goodkind of Greenwich, co-host of "A Fashionable Life" on WGCH radio in Greenwich and a ...
BET denies funds for fire station design
Greenwich Time
Reluctant to open the door to additional staffing so soon after layoffs by the town, the Board of Estimate and Taxation Thursday night refused to reinstate funding for the design of a new King Street fire station in the $340.2 million budget approved by its members for next year.
The BET unanimously voted to accept the recommendation of its Budget Committee to withhold $175,000 for the facility's design until it receives a comprehensive plan for the deployment of firefighters town-wide from the Fire Department......
.....With representatives of the Northwest Greenwich Association and the fire chief sitting in the audience at the Town Hall Meeting Room, BET members said the project does not have to wait until next year to get funding. ...
FiftyP.com teaches kids about money
Norwalk Advocate
Mark Pruner, president of Web Counsel LLC in Greenwich, said he believes that FiftyP.com is a good way to encourage long-term saving and budgeting early in ...
Area Stocks
Connecticut Post
Urstadt Biddle Properties, a Greenwich-based real estate investment trust that owns and operates shopping centers in the Northeast, gained 69 cents to close ...
Board wants public hearing on tolling
Stamford Advocate
Last week, the legislature's Transportation Committee approved a bill asking the state Department of Transportation to study placing tolls at state borders. That would significantly traffic in border towns such as Greenwich, Danbury, Union and East Lyme, the study said.
State Sen. L Scott Frantz, R-Greenwich, said his constituents have made clear they will oppose tolls. The study indicated that border tolling would generate $19.5 billion in revenue over 30 years, but Connecticut should focus on tolling that eases congestion, Frantz said.
"If the borders are the only place where they put tolls, I think it would completely destroy the characteristics of the towns on the border," Frantz said. "If you do it, don't do it for revenue. Do it for a net positive effect on traffic congestion."
DMV to close Stamford office: Workers will move to Norwalk when ...
TMCnet
Malloy said Stamford and Greenwich alone have about 180000 residents, not including commuters who use the Stamford DMV office.
"Everyone is going to have to drive to Norwalk and overwhelm that office. I think the governor and her staff should be ashamed of themselves," ...
Cops charge duo over tryst blackmail
Greenwich Time
By Debra Friedman
An Ohio couple was arrested Wednesday and charged in an extortion plot that took $100,000 from a Greenwich man, police said.
Dawn Jessop, 28, and Christopher Jessop, 29, both of 600 Stewart Lane, Mansfield, Ohio, were charged with first-degree larceny by extortion and first-degree conspiracy to commit larceny.
Police said the couple threatened to tell the man's wife of his alleged infidelities if he did not pay them a large sum of money, according to police.
The arrest came after a five-month investigation that ended Wednesday, police said, when the Jessops appeared in Greenwich unannounced to extort more money from the man, whom police did not identify ...
Boys and Girls Club to hold storytelling festival
Greenwich Post
In commemoration of World Story Telling Day on March 20, the Boys and Girls Club of Greenwich is holding a Storytelling Festival program. ...
Fueled for a fight
Stamford Advocate
One day this week, 11 of the 15 highest gas prices in Connecticut were in Stamford, a consumer Web site reported.
The average price of a gallon of regular gas in the state Tuesday was $2; in Stamford it was $2.26, according to the site, GasBuddy.com.
Such numbers fuel Mike Fox's passion.
For the 11th year, Fox is lobbying the legislature for a law that would stop the oil companies from charging some stations more for gasoline than others. It's the reason motorists in Stamford, Fairfield County and other areas the oil companies view as affluent pay 20 cents, 30 cents and more for a gallon of gas, Fox says. ...
...."Each year you learned something that totally disgusted you," said Fox, a lifelong Greenwich resident. "When you get to Hartford, you have to worry about a ...
Madoff bled hedge funds too
InvestmentNews
Put another way, three of the 10 largest hedge funds to disappear last year were directly invested with Mr. Madoff’s firm: Fairfield Greenwich Group’s ...
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