The fresh produce section is picture perfect ready for Wednesday’s opening of The Fresh Market on Westport’s Post Road East.  The Westport store, the first in Connecticut for the Greensboro, N.C- based chain, will be its 92nd and in its 18th state. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Barrett Kowalsky for WestportNow.com

The long-awaited opening of The Fresh Market at 605 Post Road East in the space formerly occupied by Shaw’s Supermarket is set for Wednesday morning. Grand opening activities will include chef demonstrations, food sampling stations, and a free sample bag of the company’s house blend gourmet coffee to the first 1,000 customers. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com

Danny Watkins (l), district manager and Michael Black, store manager, discuss final details today prior to Wednesday’s 9 a.m. opening of The Fresh Market on Westport’s Post Road East. Black relocated to a Westport residence from Toledo, Ohio where he was the Fresh Market store manager. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com

Body Quest, a personal fitness salon for women and men opened in August at 580 Post Road East.  Meanwhile, its next door neighbor, Princess Jewelry at 578 Post Road East, a shop that buys and sells antique and estate jewelry announced it is closing. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com

Citibank has sold its Phibro energy-trading firm based at Westport’s Nyala Farm office complex after getting heat over a deal to pay the owner a $100 million bonus following the federal bailout controversy.
The Nyala Farm office complex on Greens Farms Road houses Phibro LLC. File photo

Occidental Petroleum Corp. an oil and gas exploration and production company, is the buyer and said it was making a $250 million net investment.

Andrew Hall, a Southport resident and Phibro CEO, is the man at the center of the controversial bonus that got the attention of the federal pay overseers. (See WestportNow Aug. 3, 2009)

Hall and employees will remain with the company after closing, which is expected to happen by the end of the year.

The Fresh Market opens its first store in Connecticut on Oct. 14 at 605 Post Road East in the space formerly occupied by Shaw’s. According to an official at the company’s Greensboro, N.C. headquarters, the Westport store will be its 92nd and in its 18th state. Workers today were putting the final touches on the renovation. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com

His Compo Beach area neighbors have known about it for some time, but the move back into the Westport neighborhood by former American International Group (A.I.G.) executive Joseph Cassano made headlines today.
Joseph Cassano: back home. File photo

Cassano, who was closely associated with A.I.G.’s collapse, “recently slipped back into the United States” where he faces investigations by the FBI and other agencies, Reuters reported.

The news agency, in a lengthy report on Cassano’s move, did not say when the son of a Brooklyn, N.Y. police officer returned to Westport, where he has been a registered voter since 1995. But neighbors told WestportNow late last month they noticed his return when they saw a moving van outside his home.

WestportNow, respecting his privacy, did not report his return. Cassano until recently had been living in London where he had run A.I.G. Financial Products.

Rizzuto’s Wood-Fired Trattoria and Bar, at 540 Riverside Ave. in the space formerly occupied by Conte’s Restaurant in Westport’s Saugatuck area, opened for business on Sunday night.  The owner, Bill Rizzuto, who also operates similar style eateries in Bethel and West Hartford, said, “We opened the doors and they started coming in.” He said the restaurant staff includes about 45, including a baking staff which comes in at 5 a.m. They bake sourdough bread using wild yeast which Rizzuto has dubbed “Saugatuck Sourdough.”  He said the restaurant will be open for dinner only until mid-October and then service will expand to lunch, dinner and “a special late night menu including a raw bar, wood-fired pizza, antipasto and more.” (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com

Westport-based Velocity Express Corp., a national provider of ground package-delivery services, today filed for bankruptcy protection from creditors, Bloomberg News reported.

The company listed assets of $94.1 million and debt of $120.6 million as of Sept. 1 in Chapter 11 documents filed today in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., the report said.

Twelve affiliates including CD&L, Click Messenger Service, Silver Star Express, Olympic Courier Systems and Securities Courier System are also seeking protection, according to Bloomberg.

The national provider of regional shipping solutions has its corporate headquarters at 1 Morningside Drive North.

The Goody Shop at 1046 Post Road East in Westport is staying open for 48 hours straight from 10 a.m. today to promote a buy local campaign. The effort by owner Rachel Florio, which has attracted media attention, is intended to dramatize the plight of small business owners. Florio’s store, which she says carries “97 different lines—from hostess gifts, home and fashion accessories to baby and pooch,” is offereing a 50 percent discount between midnight tonight and 6 a.m. Saturday. “Small businesses like mine give far more support to the community than some of the men and women of Wall Street,” she said. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com