A Dream Deferred

Alas, the Falls Village General Store will not be setting up shop at 107 Main Street (at least not this year.) One of the dreamers behind that plan informed me yesterday that their group was told the town has found another tenant for the space. Who's moving in? What will fill those empty shelves? Only the First Selectman can answer that question . . .

The Falls Village General Store?

There are delicious rumors that some folks would like to turn 107 Main Street (the old Town Hall, which was most recently Clifton Jaeger's studio), into a marketplace featuring local foods and produce--Hautboy milk, Cockerline Beef, Isabella Freedman sauerkraut and pickles, Rustling Wind beets and blue cheese, Chubby Bunny lettuce and tomatoes, Dean's corn etc. They envision a year-round indoor farmer's market plus a whole lot more: old-fashioned handmade ice cream, books by local authors, a gallery area with local crafts and artworks. Maybe they would sell some antiques, too, and flowering plants, and penny candy for kids to buy after school, and toys so you don't have to schlep to Great Barrington or Torrington for birthday gifts. Of course, they wonder if the community would and could support such a venture.

The prospect of having the lights shining on winter's nights in the plate glass windows of 107 Main Street is exciting. But that can only happen if they can create a place where we really want to shop, which meets not only our everyday needs but also supports our neighbors' home businesses, grows our local economy and fosters a sense of community.

What would you like a Falls Village General Store to be? What would you like to see sold there? What gap in your life could it fill? Leave your comments here on the blog. Let's give these prospective entrepreneurs some insider information so they can have a fair chance to succeed. And then someday you'll be able to say, "I bought that at the Falls Village General Store."

A New Lease on Life?

Last night I drove to the package store to get a six pack and noticed a new sign outside the Falls Village Inn. It seems that Elyse Harney Real Estate is now offering the restaurant for rent. But it may be a long time before the beer flows again on Railroad Street because they are asking $4,500 a month triple net (but I'm told it's negotiable.)

"For Rent!"

Clifton Jaeger is moving his painting studio out of the old Town Hall at 107 Main Street and taking his paintbrushes and pigments to the deconsecrated St. Patrick's Church around the corner, which he's been renovating for what seems like forever (and which wags have dubbed St. Clifton's). I always appreciated it when Clifton lit his windows at night and you could admire his artwork and get a sense of what Falls Village might feel like with a few thriving businesses on Main Street.

The Main Street property is a fantastic, loft-like space that's ideal for a visionary retailer or small business owner, someone entrepreneurial like Jason Young who opened Sweet William's bakery down the block in the back of 100 Main Street this winter. I once heard a rumor that Edward R. Hamilton Bookseller
might open a shop there. A Falls Village Antiques Center might lure visitors to town, and it would no doubt succeed if Bunny Williams (who owns Treillage in NYC) or Michael Trapp got involved. How about a Falls Village Community Thrift Shop that would raise money for all the non-profits in town all year long? How about a Falls Village Organic Grocery and Cooking School featuring local purveyors like Chubby Bunny, Whippoorwill Farm, Rustling Wind, and Adamah?

Check out the "For Rent" ad the town ran in the Lakeville Journal classifieds this week. But why isn't there a "For Rent" sign in the window of 107 Main? Our best hope of finding a tenant may be some out-of-towner who drives through the village, sees the sign, and has an epiphany (maybe one of the bikers who visit Toymaker's every Sunday?) and decides that running a business on Main Street is his or her destiny. Let's spread the word and get the space rented. The town needs the income and Main Street feels too sad when the windows of 107 Main are dark.

What's Your Lottery Fantasy?

The other day, I had lunch with Kimberly Rock who lives in the cute little yellow house on Main Street (and whose husband, Eric, runs Pulp Products in Torrington). We were having one of those discussions that us expats often have. We were talking about how much we love Falls Village and how we would like to see all the storefronts on Main Street filled with thriving businesses (Welcome, Sweet William's Bakery!) and how we dream about the Falls Village Inn becoming a true community tavern. "Buying the Inn and making it work is my Lottery Fantasy," she said. "If I had an extra million dollars, that's what I would do."

I was nonplussed, because that is MY Lottery Fantasy (although I never buy lottery tickets so maybe I am just full of beans). I thought this was a funny coincidence, a bonding moment for me and Kimberly. I thought maybe we should drive over to the Village Deli Mart and buy Lottery tickets together.

And then while I was working backstage at FVCT's "Ciinderella," Cheryl Pecha told me that HER lottery fantasy is to buy the Inn and make it the kind of restaurant where everybody in town would feel comfortable--a real neighborhood joint. (Cheryl used to run a cafe where Toymaker's is now, so she understands what this might entail.) I was beginning to think that there may be a Falls Village Collective Consciousness and that everyone in town has the same Lottery Fantasy.

Does anyone know what is happening with the Inn? Today when I drove by the corner of Route 7 & 126, the Inn's sandwich board sign was gone. What does that portend? Does anyone know if Claudia and Stefan will ever return and reopen it? According to Elyse Harney Real Estate, the Inn can be yours (or ours) for $1.25 million.

What would YOU like to see happen to the Inn? Please post a comment. (You may need a free Google email address to do so.)