The Westport News has moved from its Norwalk office to Fairfield and will be published from the office of the sister Hearst Corp. weekly newspaper the Fairfield Citizen, a source at the newspaper said today. Callers to the Westport News number in Norwalk today were told to call Fairfield.

Hearst announced Friday the elimination of 44 jobs at its Connecticut newspapers and among those affected were Will Rowlands, Westport News editor since 2004, and Carol King, Lifestyle Editor, the source said. (See WestportNow April 24, 2009)

The company said it plans to eliminate another 80 positions within three months as part of a consolidation and cost-cutting effort.

Also leaving Hearst was Patricia Hines, the 23-year editor of the Fairfield Citizen. Taking over as editor is Frances Moore, a Fairfield resident and a graduate of Sacred Heart University who will also oversee the Westport News, the source said.

Jd’s Cosmetic Essentials at 62 Main St. in Westport has closed and a sign on the front door said it is undergoing renovations and will reopen May 8. According to a neighboring store owner, the cosmetics store will reopen under a new name with the same store manager. A Westport resident told WestportNow that when that they were in the store on Friday, a store employee said their $100 gift certificate would be honored in the new store. Jd’s Cosmetic Essentials also closed its other three stores in Ridgefield, Darien and West Hartford. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com

Hearst Corp., publisher of The Westport News and other local newspapers as well as dailies in Stamford, Greenwich, Bridgeport and Danbury, eliminated 44 jobs at the company’s Connecticut newspapers today, according to a Web report by The Advocate of Stamford, one of Hearst’s Connecticut newspapers.

The company plans to eliminate another 80 positions within three months as part of a consolidation and cost-cutting effort, the report said. It said the affected employees met with management throughout the day.

The rest of the workforce at Hearst’s four daily newspapers, the Connecticut Post, The Advocate of Stamford, Greenwich Time, The News-Times of Danbury and the six weeklies of the Brooks Community Newspaper group, including The Westport News, was told of the plan in an e-mailed letter, The Advocate said.

“Beginning today, we will take the first step toward structurally changing the cost base of our business to ensure its long-term viability,” Mark E. Aldam, senior vice president and group publisher of Hearst Newspapers, said in the letter.

UPDATE Robert’s LLC, located at 1869 Post Road East in Westport at the Fairfield line, has announced that it is closing at the end of May. Owner Robert Mazzucchelli said the men’s clothing store has been in its current location for three years and in its prior location at 127 Post Road East for four years. “The luxury business in Westport has evaporated,” he said. “People have been cutting back for seven or eight months now.” He added, “There’s so much uncertainty as when and how they (his customers) will come out of it.” (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com

There was a large turnout for tonight’s business after hours event hosted by the Westport Weston Chamber of Commerce and the Fairfield Chamber of Commerce at the Audi showroom in Fairfield. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com

Richard Gordon (r), chairman of the of the Westport Weston Chamber of Commerce, tonight congratulates Westonite Fred Feuerhake on his appointment as interim executive director of the group. Feuerhake is former director of community relations for Westport-based Terex Corporation. They were attending a combined Westport Weston and Fairfield Chamber of Commerce business after hours reception held at the Audi of Fairfield showroom in Fairfield. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com

Omni Fitness at 419 Post Road East in the Compo Shopping Center closed its doors about a month ago, according to the landlord. Omni Fitness, which described itself as “the East Coast’s largest retailer of quality home fitness equipment,” filed for bankruptcy last fall. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com

Westport-based Bridgewater Associates was one of just a handful of the largest hedge funds to actually add assets last year, enough to make it that largest hedge fund manager in the world at the end of 2008, according to Institutional Investor’s Alpha magazine.

The firm, which employs 650 workers at four Westport locations, topped the magazine’s 2009 Hedge Fund 100, the magazine’s annual ranking of the world’s biggest single-manager hedge fund firms, with $38.6 billion. This was $2.6 billion more than it managed at the end of 2007.

Bridgewater dethroned JPMorgan Asset Management, which had held the top spot for two years, as JPMorgan saw its hedge fund assets plummet 26.4 percent to $32.9 billion, Alpha said.

In all, the largest 100 hedge funds in the world managed 23.7 percent less than they had a year earlier, down to $1.03 trillion from $1.35 trillion, the record set at the end of 2007, the magazine said.

Two months after public disclosure of a bankruptcy filing, Westport’s Zest Cafe & Restaurant at 8 Church Lane said today it will close Tuesday “due to economic forces beyond our control.”
Zest Restaurant is closing Tuesday “due to economic forces beyond our control.” (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com

The 3,500-square foot restaurant seating 80 opened in 2006 in the basement of the building which once housed Westport Bank & Trust Co. and now is home to a Patagonia clothing store at 87 Post Road East.

“As you may have heard by now, Zest in downtown Westport is closing its doors due to economic forces beyond our control on April 21, just shy of our third anniversary,”  co-owners Chef Pietro and Janine Scotti said in an e-mail message to customers.

̶#8220;As the owners, we want you know your heartfelt support during the past three years, particularly during our last weeks at Zest, touched us deeply and we thank you for all the kind words, calls and gestures.”