Screwed Leonard’s
Stew Leonard’s, a Connecticut-based grocery chain, is selling a parcel of property they bought with the intent to develop into a store — 13 years ago:
“I just put it on the market,” [Stew Leonard, Jr.] said Wednesday. “Why not see what happens? We want to leave all our options open. We’re not looking at opening anything in Connecticut.”
Instead, Leonard said, his focus is on opening new stores in New York and New Jersey, where the real estate market is booming.
Since 1996, the town of Orange, CT has been fighting Stew’s from opening the store, complaining it will bring increased crime, traffic, and infrastructure stress to the suburb. This despite the parcel being a cornfield adjacent to I-95, where customers could zoom off and on the highway without looting or flushing too many toilets while visiting, and despite Orange being full of such mom-and-pop stores like Lowe’s, Target, and Home Depot (I love Home Depot. They have everything — except the item you’re looking for). And also despite Stew Leonard’s being one of Fortune Magazine’s 100 Best Companies to Work For eight years in a row or simply a great place to buy milk from local farms or coffee roasted right in the store.
So congratulations, town of Orange, CT. Your short-sightedness and buggering of local businesses and farms during an economic downturn is an inspiration to government everywhere. Hey! Want to be in charge of my health care?
