New Just Like You!

Mikaela Tierney/The Mirror

First year students aren’t the only ones getting acquainted with the town of Fairfield. Just recently a Whole Foods Market opened on Grasmere Avenue off of Kings Highways and a Book Warehouse replaced the Borders on Post Road.

Whole Foods Market opened on June 3rd in Fairfield County and was well received by the community.

“Business has been great,” said Christen Grasso, Marketing Team Leader at Whole Foods. “We had a line out the door for our bread-breaking and our store opening.”

Whole Foods Market is nationally known for selling healthy, organic and natural food for a decent price. The core values, as stated on their website, include “caring for the consumers and the environment [and] promoting the health of customers through healthy eating education.”

It’s also one giant, one-stop shopping store. There’s coffee, hot food, sushi, a bakery, a butcher, alcohol, ice cream and beauty products. Aisles are stocked with a wide variety of brands, some recognized and others more unfamiliar.

Grasso explained that Fairfield was the perfect choice location-wise.

“Fairfield’s definitely a town that’s filled with a lot of people who are aware of healthy eating and sustainable living and sustainable agriculture,” she said. “We’ve been working on this project for six years…I think this was something Fairfield was looking for and needed and we fit that criteria for the people of Fairfield.”

Book Warehouse now stands where Borders used to be in the center of Fairfield on Post Road. The company moved in two days after Borders closed down and had a tentative opening soon after, according to manager Craig Kennedy.

“People, as you probably know, are crazy book buyers around here,” Kennedy said. “The idea is to sell mostly discounted books… and a chance to try out a store in good old Fairfield and get the market running.”

Book Warehouse is a chain company based out of Knoxville, Tennessee with about 40 stores. Books are discounted between 50%-80% with prices running an average of $6.00.

“Where we get into trouble is if someone comes in asking for a specific book,” Kennedy said. “There’s going to be some books that I just don’t have. So I’ll tell people no but, you can go browse for these things by the same author or how about this other recommendation.”

With the new business comes some changes: Book Warehouse doesn’t sell CDs, DVDs or magazines, so the second floor of the building has now been closed off. The café still exists and has been renamed the Taj Café; it  boasts  a full line of smoothies, coffee, sandwiches and pastries.

Kennedy has unpacked roughly 50% of the inventory and hopes to be finished by the end of the month.

“I think we’re on a roll to be a really successful store, especially in a college town where  money is kind of tight and you want to be able to read for a good price,” Kennedy said. “I always loved this kind of store… I learned more buying $5 books in that store than from school. In a way it’s kind of a return for me, to the good old days.”

Both businesses are looking to attract the student population of Fairfield through a variety of special events and maybe discounts.

Whole Foods features a cooking coach and a healthy eating specialist on staff, new to the chain. Grasso hopes to partner with Fairfield University and Sacred Heart University to teach students about healthy eating and healthy cooking.

“We’re in the beginning phase of it,” she said. “[The] cooking coach and [the] healthy eating specialist here would be able to have the students come here to learn, to tour the store… have them teach about healthy eating or cooking at home.”

She added, “We’re also working with the University of Bridgeport to work on a health and wellness series, and I’m also starting conversations to see if there’s a way we can work with Fairfield on their garden.”

At Book Warehouse, the Stagcard is already accepted as a payment option in its café counterpart. Kennedy hopes to have readings from local authors and writers from Fairfield’s M.F.A program and undergraduate programs.

“It is a new market and it is an interesting test for Book Warehouse,” said Kennedy. “If I’m a good book salesperson then I think that I’ll probably manage to sell you something you love.”