Downtown Fairfield is Bustling Once Again With New Retailers and Restaurants

Not too long ago, Fairfield residents wondered what would come of the downtown area after its anchor store, The Fairfield Store, closed down in 1996 after 75 years in business. If you lived in Fairfield for more than 15 years, you will remember the quaint department store that brought a unique quality to the downtown area. If you are new to town, but familiar to the area, it was on par with the Darien Sports Shop.

Over the past few years, chain stores (including Borders, Banana Republic and Victoria's Secret) became synonymous with the footprint of Downtown Fairfield, which in its prime was home to several "mom and pop" shops – but few remained through the recession.

However, residents walking downtown in droves this summer show the area is bustling once again. Over the past few months, more stores and restaurants have revitalized this section of Route 1, including the Old Post Tavern, Colony Grill and the candy shop Sweet Rexie's.

As you move farther east on Route 1, you can see how "downtown" has expanded with the Kleban property, home to several mom and pop stores and boutiques. Clothing boutique Minette and Rook will celebrate its grand opening this weekend by offering clients 25 percent off all merchandise. The store's 29-year-old owner – longtime Fairfielder Lauren Robak – also owns a children's store in Wilton (Une Minette). The store address is 1215 Post Rd. and is located in the promenade section of the Brick Walk.

Good luck to Lauren, Stef and the rest of the crew at Minnette and Rook: May Fairfield shoppers enjoy your long tenure in Fairfield.

School's back in session, not only for Fairfield's youngest residents, but thousands of college students have filed in to town over the past couple of weeks to begin their fall semesters at Fairfield University and Sacred Heart University. The battle between year-round residents and transient college students continues to be waged, in particular the issue of beach residents feeling violated by students' drunken rowdiness, public urinating, among other evening (and sometimes early morning) activities, and has left open wounds for many.

Some say the students get a bad rap by outspoken beach residents who are overly territorial, while others contend the students and year-long residents can somehow peacefully co-exist. Meanwhile, there is also the argument that year-long residents pay taxes, while students pay rent – however several of the beach area's landlords have been taken to task in recent years with lawsuits and demands for accountability for exceeding occupancy laws, resulting in a court-ordered injunction.

At the recent Fairfield Beach Resident Association's annual meeting, members of the neighborhood advocacy group warned that they would not put up with loud partying and destructive behavior by the nearly 400 students living off campus. Paige Herman, a longtime vocal beach area advocate, said that this past May's annual end-of-year event that draws hundreds to Fairfield Beach's Lantern Point was in violation of the court injunction limiting more than 250 people from being in the area. Herman and the FBRA have a Sept. 15 court date to determine if the injunction, imposed in 2006, was violated (according to reports, Herman claims 500 students were in attendance.)

Among the FBRA's objectives for 2010 are supporting the court ordered injunction against the Lantern Point Condominium Association, pursuing noise abatement and greater speeding enforcement and supporting increased police patrols in the beach area and enforcement of the department's so-called zero tolerance policy.

One Patch reader suggested the town even begin taking revenue to accommodate students' beach parties by renting the new Penfield Pavilion (renovation completion pending additional town financing.)

Sidney's post said, "The kids could rent out the new pavilion. Think of the revenue! We need new revenue sources to fund the evergoing destruction of our tight neighborhoods with all the poorly planned municipal projects we've done and will continue to do. The people in the new McMansions want to bust out all over, and the Republican leaders of the TPZ and ZBA are more than happy to accommodate them. Don't forget about the revenue. It is all about the revenue. Dan Malloy did it to Stamford and we need to do it here!"

Some year-long residents found another way out of the problem – moving out of the neighborhood. Vince Biondi, a former Fairfield Beach Road resident, went as far as moving out of state.