Fair 120913 by Westfair Business Journal

FAIRFIELD COUNTY

BUSINESS JOURNAL December 9, 2013 | VOL. 49, No. 49

Photo courtesy Nora Murphy

YOUR ONLY SOURCE FOR REGIONAL BUSINESS NEWS | westfaironline.com

FCBJ this week FOREIGN INFLUENCE Immigrant dreams fuel the regional economy … 6 NORM GRILL The onerous task of budgeting, made easier … 10

Faithful to the economy SEASON’S START APPEARS ROBUST BY BILL FaLLoN bfallon@westfairinc.com

her Newtown home. With the whole town in mourning, she didn’t feel like doing much of anything. But in the midst of launching an online home decor magazine, she didn’t really have a choice. The holiday issue was coming up.

s Danbury Fair’s senior manager for marketing, Melissa Eigen liked what she saw over the Thanksgiving weekend. She lacked hard numbers for sales across the mall’s 1.3 million square feet, but reported firsthand, “The parking lots were full. We had lots of shoppers with lots of shopping bags.” Nationally, Eigen said, retailers are expecting a 3.9 percent uptick from last year’s sales figures, which were, in turn, already up 3.5 percent from 2011, as charted by the National Retail Federation. Eigen used the term “cautiously optimistic” to paint the coming holiday sales season, which this year found Hanukkah arriving with Thanksgiving. Post-turkey Thanksgiving shopping is a relatively new trend that has been embraced at Danbury Fair. Eigen said 44 stores opened at 8 o’clock Thanksgiving night, including three of the center’s department stores. “The retailers did not disappoint with great sales,” Eigen said. “Again, a lot of shoppers with lots and lots of bags.” Danbury Fair does not passively await the crowds. Families are invited to bring their pets Mondays from 6 to 9 p.m. to meet Santa and get their pictures taken. And for three Wednesdays — Dec. 4, 11 and 18 — the mall hosts a concert series of songs and short performances from family favorites like “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.” Marcia O’Kane, executive director of the Greenwich Chamber of Commerce, which represents the interest of some 4,000 busi-

» Cozy, page 5

» Faithful, page 2

VIVA THE VIRVOS A father-son team seeks to unite isolated tech types in eﬀective group eﬀorts … 15 NEWSMAKERS Ed’s Garage Door’s in Norwalk is among the businesses taking a bow for good deeds … 20

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nora murphy out her antique saltbox home in newtown.

a CoUnTrY lifesTYle Brand froM neWToWn BY JENNIFER BISSELL jbissell@westfairinc.com

AFTER THE SANDY HOOK ELEMENTARY shooting last December, Nora Murphy said she wasn’t in the Christmas spirit to start decorating

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