West Hartford Business Buzz: April 21, 2025 – We-Ha

A round-up of openings, closings, and other news about West Hartford businesses. 

Business Buzz is sponsored by NBT Bank, and we are very thankful for their support! 

By Ronni Newton

I hope all who celebrate had a Happy Easter on Sunday, and that those who celebrate had a Happy Passover this past week as well.

Last week I mentioned that the spring weather needed a reset, and it went a bit haywire on Saturday and was downright hot in the afternoon. Not that I am personally complaining!

The photo below is of Millie who flopped on the floor after a walk and some time chasing a ball. She is not a fan of warm weather, particularly when she is fully furred as she was – until Monday when she has a date with the groomer. Depending on when you read this, she may have already been transformed with her spring haircut.

We took advantage of the summery weather and walked to dinner at Wabi Sabi, where we tried several items for the first time – including the Takoyaki (fluffy battered octopus balls topped with bonito flakes, kewpie mayo, eel sauce, and seaweed flakes). They were very hot when they were set in front of us that the flakes were actually quivering due to the temperature differential! I wish I could include the live version of the photo below because it was a bit freaky! Of course we had the FD potatoes (my favorite), and I tried the Yakiudon (wok toss udon with pork belly strips and vegetables) which was delicious, while Ted very much enjoyed the Salmon/Spicy Tuna Don (spicy tuna, salmon with avocado, tobiko, furikake, nori).

Because it was April vacation week, there weren’t too many meetings the past week, but last Monday night, Ted and I attended the Cronkite Award Dinner at the Mark Twain House. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Ressa was honored with the award by the Connecticut Foundation for Open Government (I’m a board member of CFOG), and the event also marked the 50th anniversary of Connecticut’s Freedom of Information Act.

I also attended the West Hartford Chamber of Commerce’s After Hours on Thursday at PeoplesBank, which was co-hosted by Celebrate! West Hartford. I’ve been on the Celebrate! committee for 11 years, and look for upcoming articles about this year’s festival which is June 7 and 8.

This week’s soapbox speech is about headlines. I learned to write headlines from a talented former copyeditor who won awards for her headlines. The rules were to keep the number of words to a minimum, don’t tell the complete story in the headline (because you want people to read the article you spent time writing), and don’t create clickbait. (There are some other tips, but I can’t give away all of the secrets!) I admittedly write rather boring headlines, but I would rather be boring than tabloid and misleading, but West Hartford and Westfarms made the national news. last week with some headlines that have been cause for some major eye rolling on my part … From People Magazine: “Large Bear Sprints Through Mall Parking Lot, Sending Shoppers Fleeing in Shock,” accompanied by a video of people shrieking and screaming “Oh my God,” which I suppose was legitimately someone surprised to see a bear. The bear at Westfarms was covered by other national news organizations, including ABC, which referred to it as causing “chaos.” Another news organization said the bear was “bargain-hunting at Macy’s,” and USA Today had an article with the headline: “Video shows shoppers panic after bear was spotted sprinting through Connecticut mall.” The bear, which was reportedly a yearling, also looked unnaturally large in some of the photos.

I did mean to include this photo of the bear at Westfarms (thank you to Irene O’Connor for sharing it with me) in last week’s column, but completely forgot. I probably should have made a bigger deal of it, but the bear was chased down from the tree by DEEP, ran off into the woods behind Westfarms, and there have not been any further sightings reported. I think most of us who live here are kind of used to the bears being our neighbors by now.

It was also interesting to see the range of headlines pertaining the garage fire on Taylor Road on Saturday morning. All media outlets were working off the same press release from the fire department, and I went with the rather boring (but accurate and concise) “West Hartford Firefighters Extinguish Garage Fire Saturday” while others spotlighted an injury to a homeowner (indicated by the fire department as minor, and the person refused medical treatment) or used more descriptive terms for the fire. I’ve always tried to avoid “crying wolf,” and thank our readers for opening and reading stories on We-Ha.com even without my boring headlines providing the temptation of earth-shattering news.

No trolls this week! Thanks to those who commented using their full names! And thank you to our IT specialist who removed the “URL” field from the comment portal. It seemed to prevent some people from being able to comment and served no purpose.

If you are a long term, regular advertiser on We-Ha.com and have a 60 to 75 word submission for a future Business Buzz please send to Bob Carr at [email protected]. You can also contact Bob if you are interested in becoming a sponsor of a section of the site.

If you have information to share about local businesses, please provide details in the comments or email Ronni Newton at [email protected].

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Here’s this week’s Buzz:

• There is lots of news related to 1123-1125 New Britain Avenue, and while I am breaking it up into multiple bullet points for ease of reading, I am featuring the entire building as the main item in this week’s column. Henry Holmes, the owner of the building, reached out to me last week and shared some of the updates. First up is Sugar Gen, which I have mentioned a few times in passing, but have now learned much more about after meeting with owner Manira Truong last week. She said she is targeting a May 1 opening for her business which has previously been located on the second floor of the Juniper Homecare building on New Britain Avenue. She has also been renting space in Avon to create her product, and is looking forward to moving into the very visible storefront level and much larger space that was previously a State Farm office. “Sugaring is a hair removal technique using what is basically taffy,” said Truong. It’s all natural and organic, uses no chemicals, and is an ancient method of removing unwanted hair that dates back to Egypt at least 2,000 years ago. The sugar is therapeutic for the skin, and Truong said for their most popular service – the Brazilian – avoids irritation and other problems that result from ingrown hairs. She said the sugar “melts down the hair shaft,” which allows removal of even shorter hairs, and does a better job in shutting down the follicles’ production of new hair. Their facial treatments, she said, “are like a chemical peel without the chemicals.” Visit the website for more information or to book an appointment online.

• Also on the storefront level of 1123 New Britain Avenue, many have been waiting for Cake Gypsy to open. The sign has been in the window for more than four years, and I spoke to owner Deanna Damen last week, just before she posted the news on her Facebook page indicating that she has given up the New Britain Avenue space, and will not be opening Cake Gypsy at that location. “We need a team of people,” she told me, and she has struggled to hire staff in her Avon and Canton stores, and in addition, she is concerned that parking would be a problem in the back of the building. When she first leased the space, during the pandemic, most of those spaces were unused. The rising cost of ingredients has also greatly impacted her overhead. Damen has had a second West Hartford space in the New Park Avenue area for years, which hasn’t really been used, but she said she will be announcing in a few weeks plans to have that location (it’s on Jefferson Avenue) ready as a Cupcake Express location, for pickup of online orders, and she will be adding delivery via DoorDash, GrubHub, etc. “Our focus has always been on delivering high quality, handcrafted cupcakes at a fair price and to do that we need to evolve with the times,” Damen said in her Facebook post.

• The space where Cake Gypsy planned to open, however, will soon be home to Beloved Companions and Pawz at Peace. Dave Olson, owner of both sister businesses, confirmed the plans and said he is in the process of finalizing their lease for the 1123 New Britain Avenue space. Beloved Companions (belovedcompanions.com) offers pet funeral and cremation services, while Pawz at Peace (pawzatpeace.com) provides gentle and compassionate in-home euthanasia. Both businesses will be new to the West Hartford community, Olson said.

• Building owner Henry Holmes also said there has been a total remodel of the second floor 0f 1123-1125 New Britain Avenue for the new offices of 144 Therapy, owned by West Hartford natives Rob Gross and his wife, Sarah Quish. According to their website, 144 Therapy offers treatment for” adolescents and adults facing mental health and substance abuse challenges. We offer a comprehensive range of services, including individual, couples, and family sessions, available both in-person and through convenient video sessions.”

• I was walking by the future Friendly Toast space (36 LaSalle Road) on Friday, and as usual peeked in the window and saw people in there – as well as a sign on the door announcing a May 5 opening! And I checked the door, which was unlocked, and was lucky enough to be greeted by James, the general manager! While I had heard a rumor earlier last week of a May 1 opening, he confirmed that May 5 is the date. The West Hartford restaurant will be the New England-based all-day brunch restaurant’s first foray into Connecticut, and the 14th overall location. Director of Marketing Madelyn Dignam previously told me that The Friendly Toast is “a small but mighty independent restaurant group, and I think the West Hartford community is the perfect fit for us. We offer something for everyone, from classic breakfasts to brunch appetizers, signature mimosa flights to rotating mocktail specials. We can’t wait to open our doors and for Connecticut to get to know us!” The menu can be viewed online, but you might want to wait to plan your first order until after April 28, when an updated (and slightly slimmed down/simplified) menu will be announced for all locations. The interior wasn’t able to be photographed quite yet, but it’s so bright and cheerful and fun – and I’m very excited for this opening.

• There’s also an opening date announced for Jersey Mike’s Subs! I stopped by to check on the progress last week (tried that door, too, and it was open and they let me take a photo of the mural) and was also able to get more details. They will be opening in Prospect Plaza (between the new Chipotle and future Teriyaki Madness) at 10 a.m. on May 7, franchise owner Sarah Russell told me in a phone interview. “West Hartford is the place to go for good food, but what West Hartford has been missing is Jersey Mike’s,” she said. “Jersey Mike’s is all about giving back,” she added, noting that the opening week will include a fundraiser for Special Olympics, a charity that the chain will also be supporting next year throughout the country on their give-back day. I’ve never actually eaten at a Jersey Mike’s but will report back after attending the press night just before the opening date.

• “Solinsky EyeCare  & Hearing Center has been proudly caring for patients in West Hartford for nearly 33 years! We have grown from one West Hartford location helping eight patients per day, to 10 locations with 14 doctors and 140 staff members helping 500 patients a day,” Dr. Alan Solinsky shared, along with the news that they will be relocating their flagship West Hartford office, which is currently on Farmington Avenue. “All of us at Solinsky EyeCare are looking forward to caring for you in our brand-new 10,000-square-foot office at Corporate Center West, 433 South Main St. West Hartford. We’re excited to offer our patients state-of-the-art technology and a knowledgeable, caring staff in a beautiful new handicapped accessible building. Solinsky EyeCare is grateful and thankful for the trust our patients have shown us for all these years, and looks forward to continuing to give back to the wonderful community we all live in,” Solinksy said.

• I probably get at least several requests each month to review books by local authors, and I make it a point to only say yes when I am able to actually read the book first – and even then, it’s sometimes hard for me to give someone’s work a feature story deserving of the effort they have put into it. (Teri Michaud – I loved your book and I promise I have NOT forgotten about you! Someone needs to tell the news to slow down so I have more time for features…) I’m including this one here as a blurb because I did read “Happy Hour” when it first came out in 2024, and loved the debut novel by Elissa Bass, my friend and former regional editor at Patch. She is going to be at the Barnes & Noble in West Hartford’s Blue Back Square for a signing on Saturday, May 3, from 1-4 p.m. Bass lives in Stonington, and describes “Happy Hour” as “a reverse age gap menopause romance” (a niche genre Bass says she invented) set on Cape Cod in the off season. Kirkus Reviews calls it “sizzling, sharp, and hilarious … Bass’ characters are lovable, complicated and flawed…which is to say, deeply human. Snappy prose and cleverly crafted plot lines elevate the rom-com tropes, striking the perfect balance between the laugh-out-loud funny and the heart-wrenchingly sad.” Books will be available for purchase, and details can be found here. I am personally looking forward to seeing Elissa, and to enjoying an actual happy hour with her after the signing!

• I checked on the future Chick-fil-A when I was in Bishops Corner last week. No news there, other than quite a few FedEx notices stuck to the door.

• As the West Hartford Center Infrastructure reconstruction progresses, I’ll continue to provide regular updates, including photos, in this column. It’s now been three weeks since the project commenced (see project details here) and the street trees on LaSalle Road have been removed (52 new trees will replace the 36 that were taken down), and in the Phase 1A and Phase 1B areas (the east side of LaSalle from Ellsworth to the Memorial Road Connector and the west side between Farmington Avenue and Central Optica) the sidewalk and a portion of the pavement has been demolished. There is construction fencing in place and the sidewalk in those areas is closed to pedestrians. The photos this week don’t look all that different from last week, but I did see work going on during the week.  Click here to see the phasing schedule provided by the town.

• “Taste of … 2025” will be held on Monday, April 28, from 5:30-7:30 p.m. at the Back Nine Tavern at Stanley Golf Course. The event, which will feature food from Back Nine, Chick-fil-A, and others, will benefit West Hartford-based nonprofit Friends of Feeney. For tickets ($30 each or four for $100) are available at TasteOf.Eventbrite.com. Contact Tom, [email protected], to be a restaurant, sponsor, or non-food exhibitor, or with any questions!

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Remember, if you have any business news to share, add it in the comments section below or email Ronni Newton at [email protected].

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