Formidable slowdown meets a formidable town

If Mary Ann Morrison, president of the nearly 700-member Greenwich Chamber of Commerce, could tell the doomsayers one thing, it would be: “Yes, some stores have closed. But it”™s important to note stores have opened, too.”

Five stores are under construction on Greenwich Avenue. From there through Cos Cob and into Old Greenwich, Morrison is optimistic the region has seen the bottom of the downturn.

“It will be a slow climb,” Morrison said. “We”™re not going to skyrocket out of this by any means. But as the credit markets stabilize and as we see diminished ripples caused by the wild gyrations on Wall Street, Greenwich will come back.”

Morrison said restaurants are doing well around the weekend, but are slow early in the week. Auto dealers, she said, are starting to see more activity and “real estate will improve with the credit markets. But if you want to buy into Greenwich, this is a great time.”

There are a few “for rent” signs around town, one of which was just pulled down for an AT&T store slated to open on Greenwich Avenue this fall. A major project at the corner of Greenwich Avenue and Amogerone Crossway promises mixed use by year end where there had been impasses and fire damage for the last seven years.

No town, even one as enviable as Greenwich with a median income around $100,000, is immune to the sort of national flu now rampant in malls and on Main Streets. Somebody”™s still spending, though, even if, in Morrison”™s words, “They”™re cutting back. We”™re still suffering from the economic decline, but there are also some exciting things going on.”

Patrick LaMothe sees spending firsthand directing traffic off of East Putnam Avenue into and out of the Whole Foods Plaza. “We”™re very, very busy,” he said. Indeed, there was barely a parking spot to spare, a scene repeated in Old Greenwich and in the parking lots of Cos Cob.

Several doors down from Whole Foods, however, supervising pharmacist Sonali Chakraborti-Costa and sales associate Ania Chowdhury were preparing to work at Kennedy International Airport because their store,  Harmony Pharmacy & Health Center, is closing after one-and-a-half years. The women said the Greenwich location is the fourth in the store”™s history and the only one not in an airport. “We have always been an airport pharmacy,” Chakraborti-Costa said and the store will return to those roots. She and Chowdhury will now work at JFK, while the other two Harmony stores ”“ at the Newark and San Francisco international airports ”“ will remain open.

Martin Olivieri, 39, has run Olivieri Contracting Corp., with offices in Greenwich and Port Chester, N.Y., for 16 years. His business is roofing ”“ “We”™re the biggest roofers in Greenwich” ”“ and business has been, he said, “Horrible.”

In years past, Olivieri would have employed 17 workers and worked on the roofs of five houses per week, plus commercial work. These days, “the commercial work is keeping us afloat. We”™re lucky to get one private house per week now.”

The irony is Olivieri knows of many homes with leaky roofs that are making do with mops and buckets.

“It used to be after a big rain we would get 40 calls about leaks,” he said. “Now, we get one or two. I know there are leaks out there and people are just living with the leaks.”

Olivieri said once the work is done it is getting tougher to get paid. Even work for a municipality ”“ albeit in conjunction with other contractors ”“ can take a year to see payback, as Olivieri said was recently the case for the roof on the Bronxville, N.Y., Village Hall.   

“I think things will turn around, but I also think it will be a year before we start to see that turnaround,” Olivieri said. “Some people in construction say, ”˜It”™s the weather.”™ It”™s not the weather. This is the first year I missed a week straight of work. It was never like this before.” As for the future, thanks to commercial work, “We”™ll be fine.”

Scott Schwartz began the Old Greenwich-based SDS Consulting Group in March. He cited personal underemployment and the urge to start his own outfit as motivating factors. He already possessed an MBA.

“It made sense to me to seek projects and contract-type jobs,” Schwartz said. “In some cases, it”™s better to bring in my company than for a company to do the work themselves.”

SDS handles computer and IT needs, including marketing plans and research, data entry and editing, database design and maintenance, Web design and maintenance, training and individualized consulting.

“I think things will get worse before they get better,” Schwartz said. He is pessimistic the stimulus bill from Washington, D.C., will have much effect and he foresees more mortgage woes on the horizon.