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04/17/2018 12:00 AMWith retail developments signing new lessors and existing town storefronts filling with new or relocating businesses, the town’s retail business climate appears to be resilient.
Along the Boston Post Road, there have been a number of changes.
Filling the former Boater’s World retail space at 899 Boston Post Road is a new O’Reilly Auto Parts retailer.
Saybrook Soul Sweat—Yoga Studio opened in October 2017 at 455 Boston Post Road in the Saybrook Station retail development. It occupies space once used by For You Flowers. The business describes itself as offering vinyasa style yoga classes and a juice bar. Opening in space at 655 Boston Post Road in the Old Saybrook Shopping Center over the past year is Beach Club Fitness, advertised as a full-service gym.
Another new business, Cryotherapy Sauna, is opening at 252 Boston Post Road. Ashore Dental Offices of Dr. Efrain Socarras opened at 670 Boston Post Road in space recently used by an Edward Jones brokerage office.
Two hair businesses also opened in the past year. Mike’s Barber Shop opened for businesses at 100 Main Street and Luis Barber Shop opened at 350 Middlesex Turnpike, filling the space that was formerly a hair salon.
Two other business changes on Main Street include a new tobacco vendor and a new vegan bakery. Bongo Rons, a tobacco vendor, moved into in the space at 65 Main formerly occupied by Van De Brooke bakery.
Shayna B’s by the Sea Bakery opened at 247 Main Street in the former site of Dagmar’s Desserts. Shayna B’s, owned and operated by Christine Reed, makes baked goods that are vegan and wheat- and gluten-free.
Dagmar’s Desserts moved from that Main Street storefront a couple of years ago to a new location at 75 Main Street, next to Denali.
Construction is also underway (at 1231 Boston Post Road on a the fifth Connecticut location for the restaurant Little Pub. Other Little Pubs are currently operating in four Connecticut towns: Ridgefield, Wilton, Greenwich, and Fairfield.
Doug Grabe of the Little Pub group describes the restaurant concept as “a rustic, family friendly gathering place with great food, generous drinks, and a lively pub atmosphere.”
Grabe said the Old Saybrook restaurant will open this summer. As approved by the Zoning Commission, it will have 44 seats in the dining room, 16 seats on an outdoor patio, and 40 seats in the bar/lounge area.
Applications that are currently pending before the Zoning Commission include proposals for a pediatric dentistry office at 1013 Boston Post Road, and one for a new restaurant, Skippers, to locate on the site of long-vacant former Pizza Hut at 688 Boston Post Road. If approved, the applicant plans a new Skippers Seafood restaurant similar in concept and menu to the original Skippers restaurant in Niantic.
Also pending is a proposal for Island Cove Too to put a storage warehouse on property it recently bought on Channelside Drive and a proposal for a restaurant with apartments above at 76 Elm Street.
A proposal to locate a marijuana dispensary at 5 Custom Drive was received and is under consideration (see “Zoning Hearing on Marijuana Dispensary Plan” on page 7).
Two larger sites, the former bowling alley and the Benny’s Plaza, both on the Boston Post Road, were sold in the past two years and may soon yield applications to the Zoning Commission.
Tony Izzo, principal of the firm that bought the bowling alley, recently secured from the Zoning Commission a text change for the B-2 Business Zone in which the parcel is located. The change adds to the list of special exception uses in a B-2 Zone a restaurant with a drive-through window. Izzo is currently working to secure tenants for the site.
The Benny’s Plaza on Spencer’s Plain Road was recently purchased by the Carpinato Group. All 31 Benny’s stores closed in 2017, including the outlet in Old Saybrook. The new owner, however, has yet to file an application with the Zoning Commission for a zone text change or special exception permit that, if filed, would help reveal possible plans for the site’s future.