With a commercial backbone spanning Sikorsky Aviation Corp., whose Seahawk helicopters can dispense Hellfire missiles, to a recent Florida transplant that offers, literally, heavenly coffee, Shelton could be Fairfield County”™s commercial “Paradise Regained.”
Once an Industrial Revolution river center, the city of 40,000 souls now boasts decidedly modern players like Pitney Bowes and Skandia Insurance in a rounded economy that, according to 2005 census figures, boasts a household median income of $73,900 versus $60,900 for the state as a whole. Unemployment, according to Web sources, hovers just above 3 percent.
In the town of Shelton, vacancy rates for class-A office space are tight at 11 percent, according to Tom O”™Leary, a broker with Cushman & Wakefield.
“If you”™re a company that wants to be at 50,000 square feet and above, your choices are limited to the Pinnacle at Merritt 8 and Armstrong Park,” said O”™Leary. Though R.D. Scinto Inc.”™s 156,000 square feet of class-A space at 6 Research Drive is still under construction, it is already 96 percent leased.
But while options are limited in Shelton for drawing larger companies into the area, the town”™s mom-and-pop shops are striving to drum up commerce on the main thoroughfare.Â
Nancy Caviness, owner of El Shaddai Beauty Salon, opened her shop on Howe Avenue in September in the location formerly inhabited by The Magic Mirror. A quarter of her clientele followed her to Shelton and though she does a good business with Shelton residents she says she also draws clients from New Haven, Bridgeport, Trumbull and Branford. “I”™ve never gone a month or week without income,” she said. “It”™s been steadily busy.”
Caviness says she and the other small business owners steer business to each other, directing customers up and down the business district. She notices a marked difference in the neighborhood. Their used to be motorcycles lined up in front of her shop, patrons of a nearby bar. “Now it”™s becoming more like a trendy crowd,” she said. “More coffee shops and less bars. We get a lot of feedback on how the neighborhood has picked up.”
A children”™s boutique just moved in next door and so did another shop a block away.
Down the road, combined coffee shop The Extra Percs Café and Christian bookstore The Promise draw a steady flow of loyal patrons. The shop was opened two and half years ago by Latrece Preston who moved to Shelton from Florida with her family because the tax base was lower. The café”™s motto is “caffeine for the soul.”
On a recent afternoon, patrons lounged on couches and plush chairs. Among inspirational posters and cards, customers can order decaf chai or purchase creamed cinnamon spread.
“It has become a neighborhood meeting place,” said Preston. “People will say ”˜you get people in here I haven”™t seen in years,”™” she said. “It”™s like ”˜Cheers,”™ but with coffee.”
She has noticed that her clientele has changed and she just started catering to local companies like Sikorsky. “There are more white-collar workers,” she said. “What they expect is different. They expect better quality. There are also more couples. People can afford housing here. You have these young couples able to buy old homes and renovate. The town is trying to remake itself. It”™s changing slowly.”
Preston”™s biggest complaint about trying to survive as a mom-and-pop shop in a growing business district is the national chains mindset that people are so used to. She cited a national coffee retailer with multiple Shelton outlets ”“ seven by her count ”“ and said, “I mean, how many do you need?”
“I think most small businesses are struggling all over the place,” she said. “But you get a service at your local mom-and-pop shop that you don”™t get anywhere else,” she said. But more than anything Preston wants to be an integral part of the town and its draw as a business district.
“As long as I can, I”™ll be here,” she said.
