Shoppers at ODDZ, 139 Post Road East, got a head start today on the popular three-day Westport Downtown Merchants Association summer sidwalk sale which begins Friday and continues through Sunday. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com

Panera Bread has opened at 1860 Post Road East, its 33rd cafe in Connecticut, according to regional marketing director Angie Greene-Hicks. St. Louis based Panera Bread, which owns more than1,700 bakery-cafes, says it features high quality, reasonably priced food in a comfortable environment.The Westport cafe, across from Shake Shack, has 33 employees which, Greene-Hicks said, will expand to 50. It has indoor seating for 105 and 24 in an all-season patio where the windows slide open to an enclosed interior patio, she said. She said the restaurant is working with the Connecticut Food Bank to locate a partner to donate end of day food products. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com

After four years, Westport National Bank’s involvement with convicted swindler Bernie Madoff is still bringing unwanted publicity—the latest a New York Times story today saying it is in the spotlight because of lawsuit brought by investors who lost a combined $60 million.
Hartford trial again puts Westport National Bank in spotlight. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com/file

“Among the far-flung feeder funds, brokerage houses and institutions interconnected in the vast Ponzi scheme perpetuated by Bernard L. Madoff, one little-known local bank is now in the spotlight,” the Times wrote in its DealBook column.

“Westport National Bank and its parent company, Connecticut Community Bank, is the type of Main Street bank found in Anytown U.S.A., rather than near Wall Street. It has one main office and nine affiliated branches, all within a small radius stretching from Fairfield to Greenwich.

“But to more than 200 individual investors, it was the bank that should have stood sentry over their money. A lawsuit brought by investors who lost a combined $60 million in the Madoff Ponzi scheme seeks to show that the bank failed at its job as the custodial bank in charge of their money.”

By Zoe Brown

Despite sunshine the past couple of days, Westport’s summer weather, ranging from rain to pop-up storms to searing temperatures throughout June, has hurt the bottom line for local businesses dependent on sunny summers.

It was a busy day today for Longshore Sailing School, but recent bad weather heavily impacted its business and others in Westport. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Helen Klisser During for WestportNow.com

“This year’s weather has been the worst we’ve seen in 26 years,” said Joey Romeo, owner of Joey’s by the Shore, the food concession at Compo Beach. “June, for example, has been the wettest in history.

“As a business that is almost entirely dependent on the weather, we’ve been significantly impacted,” added Romeo.

John Kantor, owner of Longshore Sailing School, agreed that the weather has put a damper on things.

It was quite a 32nd birthday Tuesday for 1999 Staples High School graduate Doug Imbruce –- a birthday that included a reported $50 million buyout of his New York startup company, Qwiki, by Yahoo!

Doug Imbruce: Westport native gets Yahoo! buyout. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Contributed photo

Imbruce, whose parents Ann and Richard still live in the house in which he grew up in Westport, developed the first prototype of Qwiki in 2009.

It is described as a technology that transforms raw data into a rich-media, interactive information experience.

“We’re excited to announce that Yahoo acquired Qwiki — a company that uses awesome technology to bring together pictures, music and video to capture the art of storytelling,” Yahoo said in a blog post.