Local Leaders Want The World To Know ‘Stonington Is Open For Business’

The Gray Goose Cookery, Saltwater Farm Vineyard and the Stonington Natural Health Center are each examples of the type of local, independently owned, thriving businesses that Stonington hopes to foster. So it was only natural that their owners sat on a panel about entrepreneurship at Stonington’s Second Annual Economic Roundtable: “Solutions For Stonington” Tuesday.

The event hosted at the brought together the community’s business leaders, business owners and state and local government officials for a morning discussion about Stonington’s economic development.

 First Selectman Ed Haberek Jr. started off the morning talking about the progress Stonington has made since last year’s economic roundtable including the opening of numerous new businesses, the recently launched Stonington Economic Development Commission’s Twitter account and Facebook page, and the collaborative work the town has done to steer new businesses through the town and state development processes.

“Stonington is open for business,” Haberek said.

How to keep it that way and promote that idea to the region, nation and world is where Susan Lang of , Mike Connery of and Dr. Megan Marco of , came in. The three business owners answered questions about their backgrounds, their businesses, the challenges of starting a business and fostered a discussion on where Stonington goes from here.

“I’m not here accidently there’s no question that Stonington is perfectly aligned with the image we are trying to create,” Connery said.

Connery believes that image should be promoted separately from Mystic.

“We have a unique area here,” Connery said of Stonington noting he often sends visitors into Stonington Borough who didn’t realize the village existed.

Disagreeing slightly with Connery, Lang said: “Mystic is a brand you don’t have to work for and that is a big advantage.”

Marco said it’s important for each business to find it’s niche and to reach out to other local businesses. “People in Stonington like to shop locally and it is a destination,” Marco said.

Her advice to other entrepreneurs: “Keep it local.”

Stonington Natural Health Center isn’t the only one keeping it local. Connery said Saltwater Farm Vineyard almost inadvertently became one of the top wedding destinations in the northeast adding they are starting to book into 2013. If you want to get married at Saltwater Farm, though, you have to pick one of their three caterers all of whom are local and the vineyard also gives a list of other local vendors.

The weddings, Connery estimate, “…could generate 5 to 6 million dollars coming into the community.”

Ann Hamilton, President, Franklin County Chamber of Commerce in Massachusetts also gave the group ideas for promoting entrepreneurship especially using technology to grow.

“It’s not the future, it’s now,” Hamilton said, suggesting the town and businesses reach out, network and educate each other on different opportunities. The Franklin County Chamber holds free counseling sessions for business owners several times throughout the year.

Connery stressed the importance people being able to find your business.

“Having a good attractive website…make sure it’s accessible is tremendously important,” Connery said.

One of the challenges Stonington area businesses face is seasonality something Connery said he didn’t think there was much to do about. Lang noted the demographics of town have changed, aging, since she opened her first business . She suggested creating more events during the winter months for locals and people in the region.

Seasonality, the appearance by many that Connecticut is not business friendly and differing opinions over whether Stonington should promoted separately from Mystic are all issues. But local town and business leaders showed a willingness to learn from each other throughout the roundtable suggesting as Hamilton noted at the beginning of the breakfast:

“Stonington is indeed on the move,” Hamilton said.