The Post Road storefront facing Main Street is perhaps Westport’s prime location.
It’s been many things: Colgan’s and Thompson’s drug stores. Ships restaurant. Eddie Bauer.
Now it’s Tiffany.
But for how long?
Admiral Real Estate Services is marketing the property, under the headline: “The BEST Locations in Downtown Westport! Current Tiffany & Co. Site!”
The listing reads: “New for lease: Prime ground floor retail space in Westport, CT. Current Tiffany & Co. End-cap corner retail with exceptional visibility at signalized intersection.”
The 5,580-square foot location offers “ample natural light, parking directly in rear, corner building with massive frontage … various uses permitted.”
In bold letters, it adds: “Parking is free, nearby, and vast. A large municipal lot can be found adjacent to the building on Jesup Road and in the Parker Harding Plaza located across the street behind Starbucks. Street parking is also available around the building.”
Tiffany & Co.
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Sure, it’s mid-winter.
But ice cream is always in season.
Van Leeuwen — the New York-based, national made-from-scratch dairy and vegan brand — opens its Church Lane scoop shop next Thursday (February 6, noon).
Their 4th Connecticut location marks a return for co-founders Ben and Pete Van Leeuwen. The Fairfield County natives’ ice cream journey began here 20 years ago.
To celebrate, Van Leeuwen Westport will offer $1 scoops on opening day from 3 to 5 p.m., and free totes to the first 100 customers beginning at 3.
The shop will also showcase a special limited offering created by Westport cookbook author and creator Julia Dzafic. The vegan sundae features scoops of strawberry shortcake ice cream and banana pudding ice cream, topped with sprinkles, hot fudge and sugar cone.
Other flavors include honeycomb, brown sugar cookie dough brownie, Earl Gray tea, praline butter cake, marionberry cheesecake, black cherry chip, Sicilian pistachio, bigface coffe affogato and sour cherry creamsicle.
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With a month to go before Fashionably Westport kicks off, over 30 fashion retailers and hair salons have already signed on.
The entertainment list grows too. Westport’s own Drew Angus — now a national perform — will join the fun.
This year’s 5th annual event is Friday, February 28 (7 p.m., Westport Library). Sponsored by the Westport Downtown Association, it’s a benefit for Homes with Hope. The evening includes a silent auction.
Models are local friends and celebrities. The emcee and runway director are neighbors too: Dave Briggs and Carey Price, respectively.
Click here for tickets. Click here for more information.
Veteran Fashionably Westport model (and 1st Selectwoman) Jen Tooker offers a reminder: Tickets are now on sale.
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Americans of a certain generation remember Dick Button fondly.
Some recall his illustrious. double Olympic gold-winning figure skating career. Far more known him as the sport’s foremost television commentator, honed over 6 decades of Olympics and other high level competitions.
Totney Benson has more intimate memories. Button — who died Tuesday in North Salem, New York at 95 — was her uncle.
His full name was Richard Totten Button — named in honor of his grandmother. The longtime Westporter’s name is Totney Button Benson.
Dick Button visited the Bensons’ Compo Hill home for holiday celebrations and other events over the past 45 years.
Click here for a full New York Times obituary.
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The curtain rises tonight for the 3rd show of Westport Community Theatre’s 2025-26 season.
“Pride and Prejudice” runs Saturdays (7:30 p.m.) and Sundays (2 p.m.), from January 31 through February 9, plus Thursday, February 6 at 7:30 (Town Hall; tickets are $30).
This adaptation captures the spirit of Jane Austen’s 1813 masterpiece with a lively, modern rhythm that stays true to the heart of the original.
Click here for more information.
(Rear) Tony Moreno and Westporter Dana Chiapparelli. Front: Maggie Frattaroli, Sawyer Peduto in “Pride and Prejudice.”
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Also tonight: an evening of jazz (“and java”), at Staples High School (7 p.m.).
It’s an informal event, in the cafeteria. Several groups will perform, including the Bedford Middle School jazz band. Admission is free.
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Paul Newman would have been 100 years old this week.
To honor the actor/race car driver/philanthropist/longtime Westporter’s legacy, Newman’s Own launched “Paul Newman Generosity Day.”
As part of the celebration at Newman’s Own offices on Morningside Drive North, Andy Ortega created a 4-foot tall cake. It was decorated with a replica of the original salad dressing bottle.
Paul Newman’s cake.
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Westport Police made 2 custodial arrests between January 22 and 29. Both were for failure to appear: a 56-year-old Westport man and 44-year-old Bridgeport woman.
Police also issued these citations:
- Traveling unreasonably fast: 22 citations
- Failure to obey stop signs: 11
- Speeding: 9
- Driving while texting: 6
- Operating a motor vehicle while under suspension: 6
- Failure to renew registration: 6
- Operating a motor vehicle without a license: 5
- Operating an unregistered motor vehicle: 4
- Improper use of markers: 3
- Passing a standing school bus: 1
- School zone violation: 1
- Following too closely: 1
- Failure to drive in proper lane: 1
- Improper turns: 1
- Failure to obey traffic control signals: 1
- Operating a motor vehicle without minimum insurance: 1
- Illeal operation of motor vehicle — limited license: 1
This bus driver makes sure no one will pass. Passing a standing school bus is a definite no-no. (Photo/Bob Weingarten)
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Westport resident Sophie Coquaz died peacefully on Tuesday, surrounded by family and friends. She was 52.
She was born and grew up in southeast France. She studied economics at the University of Lyon, and the University of Reading, in the UK.
In 1994 she pursued a master’s degree at the University of Delaware. She moved to New York and Connecticut to start her professional life, and met her husband Emmanuel.
They married in 2001, with weddings in France and Greece. In 2005 they relocated to London for career opportunities. They spent 5 years there, where their 4 children were born, before returning to New York.
Sophie worked for Thomson Reuters in commercial and legal operations positions for 24 years. She joined Estée Lauder in 2020, and served as vice president in the office of general counsel and legal operations.
She enjoyed travelling to France and Greece for summer holidays. Years after her classes of classic dance, she retained the grace of a ballet dancer.
Sophie is survived by her husband Emmanuel Saounatsos; children Zélie, Madeleine, Aurel and Sidonie; mother Danielle; brother Régis; nephews Mahel and Antoine, and niece Alice.
A wake will be held at Harding Funeral Home this Saturday (February 1, 2 to 6 p.m.). In lieu of flowers, a donation may be made to the Regional Hospice in Danbury,
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Christmas is pretty far in the rear view mirror. It’s amost February, believe it or not.
But a small vestige of the holiday remains at Grace Salmon Park. Johanna Keyser Rossi captured the colorful contrast, in a fir tree, for today’s “Westport … Naturally” feature.
(Photo/Johanna Keyser Rossi)
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And finally … Marianne Faithfull, whose life included years as a singer, “muse and girlfriend of Mick Jagger,” homeless heroin addict, actor and cabaret performer, died yesterday in London. She was 78.
Her first hit, “As Tears Go By,” is often said to be the first original composition by Rolling Stones Jagger and Keith Richards (now a Weston resident). (Stones’ manager Andrew Loog Oldham — who formerly lived in Westport — was attracted by her beauty, and asked her if she could sing.)
Click here for a full obituary. (Perhaps the most interesting line: “Her mother, Eva von Sacher-Masoch, was a Viennese baroness, an ex-ballet dancer and a descendant of Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, author of the erotic novel Venus in Furs,’ which spawned the term masochism.”)
(As today’s Roundup — and every day’s — shows, “06880” is truly “where Westport meets the world.” Please click here to support your hyper-local blog. Thank you!)
Two years later, here we are, at our RTM meeting, still on Zoom.
