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Tag: Greisers

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Local Wisdom: After-Hours Gatherings at Greiser’s

Join Us for Four Evening Talks in Spring 2024

Easton  is a hive of accomplished people with unique talents. Ever since our November 1, 2018, opening day, we’ve aspired to provide a place for all the interesting and interested people in our community to connect.

Local Wisdom is our occasional after-hours event series now in its second season at Greiser’s. On these evenings, we provide small bites, beverages (non-alcoholic, but byob is permitted), and a relaxed forum where you can get to know your neighbors, including some of Easton’s most creative and innovative residents. Each event will include a short lecture — think TEDTalk — and plenty of time for conversation with our featured guests, all of whom are plucked right from our customer list.   

All events are from 6:00 – 7:30 pm. $20 ticket includes small bites and a beverage.

Seating is limited. Advanced registration required.

Wednesday, March 27
INDUSTRIAL DESIGNER STEVE COZZOLINO (click for tickets)
“HOW A TOASTER CAN SPARK JOY“

Menu: Toast Points with Seasonal Spreads & Dips

Steve Cozzolino

As the founder of the NYC design agency Cozzolino Studio, Easton-based industrial designer Steve Cozzolino is the creative mind behind many favorite household appliances and tools including the All-Clad toaster and Belgian waffle maker, the Cuisinart toaster oven, the Kitchen Aid curlin tea kettle, Mr. Coffee espresso makers, and numerous Nambé gourmet kitchen tool designs. Early in his career, he was part of the team that designed the legendary Swiffer for Procter & Gamble. For the past four years, Steve has also been a cast member, design judge, and presenter on the ByDesign suite of CBS Primetime television shows.

Steve’s work has been featured in the New York Times, Fortune, the MOMA Design Store, and the Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum. He was honored by the City of New York for “Excellence in Design,” and has won professional accolades including the Red Dot, Global Innovation, Good Design, IDEA, and Housewares Design awards. He holds numerous design patents.  

At Greiser’s tonight, he’ll talk about the power of design to spark joy, why he believes empathy is one of the most powerful tools for designing and developing relevant, compelling experiences for all, and how Artificial Intelligence can complement the design process.

After dividing their time between NYC and Easton for several years, Steve, his wife Pam, and their teenage son Nick made Easton their full-time home last year.

Thursday April 11
PAINTER, PRINTMAKER, WRITER TAMMY NGUYEN (click for tickets)
“MAKING ART IN EASTON“

Menu: Vietnamese Grazing Board

Tammy Nguyen making paintings in her Easton studio for her ICA Boston show. Left to right, “Ralph Waldo Emerson” and “Ngo Dinh Diem.” Photo by Natalie Ivis for The New York Times

Tammy Nguyen is a multimedia artist based in Easton whose work spans painting, drawing, printmaking and book making. Intersecting geopolitical realities with fiction, her practice addresses lesser-known histories through a blend of myth and visual narrative. She is the founder of Passenger Pigeon Press, an independent press that joins the work of scientists, journalists, creative writers, and artists.

Her work is currently on display in London, and was recently featured in a show at the ICA Boston. In a December, 2023, profile, The New York Times called Tammy Nguyen “a maximalist … driven by questions, not certainties.”

Tonight, Tammy will discuss the ins and outs of her artistic process, recent and upcoming shows, and how living in Easton with her husband Davey and daughters Penny and Olive has transformed her practice.

Wednesday, May 8
COACH, AUTHOR & NONPROFIT LEADER MIKE EVANS (click for tickets)
“BROKERING PEACE THROUGH BASKETBALL“

Menu: A Cultural Mix of Game Day Appetizers

Mike Evans is the the author of The Belfast Blazers: The Journey of an American Basketball Coach in Ireland, and founder and executive director of Full Court Peace, a Connecticut based not-for-profit organization dedicated to bringing kids from different socioeconomic backgrounds together. FCP, which evolved from Evans’s experiences in Ireland, creates meaningful opportunities for interaction between boys and girls ages 10 to 18, both on and off of the basketball court.

“Our youth lack ample opportunities to interact with one another, to truly understand one another, and to forge friendships across racial and socioeconomic lines,” Evans says. “We are effectively raising children who will promote the status quo — a nation divided by race, class and income. The farther we slide away from each other, the less unified we are as a society, and the less prepared our children are to be socially competent citizens of this society.”

Mike, who lives in Easton with his wife, Alexandra, and their 9-month old daughter, Hannah, will talk this evening about his work in Northern Ireland, first playing and then coaching basketball, and how his experience getting teenage Protestant and Catholic teammates in Belfast to see eye to eye led to his formation of a nonprofit that’s breaking down barriers to peace in communities around the US and world. Copies of his book will be for sale.

July Date TBD
JOURNALIST AND AUTHOR DAN SLATER (click for tickets)
“TELLING THE BIRTH STORY OF AMERICA’S IMMIGRANT UNDERWORLD“

Menu: Snacks of the Lower East Side, Circa 1900

On sale July 16 from Little, Brown and Co.
Dan Slater

Join us to celebrate the publication of local author Dan Slater’s new book, The Incorruptibles: A True Story of Kingpins, Crime Busters, and the Birth of the American Underworld.

A graduate of Colgate University, New York Film Academy, and Brooklyn Law School, Dan has written for more than a dozen publications including the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the Atlantic, GQ, and the New Yorker. His last book, Wolf Boys, which the New York Times called “unforgettable” and the Chicago Public Library named a best book of the year, is being adapted for a TV series by 101 Studios and director Antoine Fuqua.

Meanwhile, his story about a rabbinic gang is in development at Paramount TV and George Clooney’s Smokehouse Pictures.

Raised in Minnesota, Dan lives in Easton with his wife Sophie and their sons, Silas and Felix.

At Greiser’s this evening, Dan will share his journey researching and retelling the birth story of our country’s immigrant underworld and sign copies of his new book.

Space at Greiser’s is limited. Advanced registration is required. Tickets, $20, are available in-store or online here. We’ll serve a topical menu of small bites and softdrinks at each event. BYOB is welcome.

To learn about future events in our Local Wisdom series, please subscribe on our homepage to our email newsletter, the Flying A.

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Meteorite Night 2023 at Greiser’s

Join Our Annual Celebration of Easton’s Claim to Astronomical Fame!

On December 14 every year we celebrate the cosmic event in 1807 that put Easton at the center of scientific exploration.

Celebrate and learn about the world-famous meteorite that was observed by Eastonites in the sky before it landed on farmland here on this day 216 years ago. The event is known as the first documented observation of space stuff landing in North America. Chunks of our town meteor (officially and misleadingly known as the Weston Meteorite) are held in collections around the world, from the Yale Peabody Museum in New Haven to the Vatican Observatory in Italy.

From 6pm – 8pm, come to enjoy guided stargazing with astrophysics guy and JBHS alum Colin Holm-Hansen plus celestial canapés and cosmic cocktails for the occasion.

Please register here by December 12.

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Artistry of Karen Kent: Quirky Owls and Colorful Still Lifes

Local Artist’s Oils, Acrylics and Mixed Media Art on Exhibit at Greiser’s Thru Year’s End

OPENING RECEPTION THURSDAY, OCTOBER 19, 6:00 PM

Twenty recent works by Fairfield artist and Greiser’s customer Karen Kent will brighten the store’s rooms and walls through the end of 2023. Kent is a lifelong artist who earned a bachelors degree in fine art and architecture before embarking on a career as an interior designer crafting homes with balance through fabric, color, furniture, and accessories. After nearly three decades, Karen turned to focus full time on creating striking, vibrant large scale paintings.

Works on display and for sale at Greiser’s include vibrant floral still lifes ranging in size and complexity from Kent’s 12×12-inch acrylic-on-board still life “Garden Roses” ($100) to her 36×36-inch acrylic-on-canvas “Buzzing Bee” ($2,400). Her delightful mixed media owl series includes, pictured above from left to right, “Grumpy,” “Bashful,” and “Sneezy” each 24×18 inches ($750). Other pieces featured in the current exhibit at Greiser’s include landscapes, figurative studies, and animals including a heron, a Golden Retriever, and a pair of elephants.

Karen is an exhibiting member of Rowayton Arts Center and New Haven Paint and Clay. She is also a member of Carriage Barn Arts Center, Westport Arts Center, Westport Arts Collective, Greenwich Art Society, the Cultural Alliance of Fairfield County, and Ridgefield Guild of Artists.

Join us and the artist at 6pm October 19 for an open house and reception. See all works for sale online at Greiser’s and learn more about the artist on her website.

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Discovered Light: The Final Photographs of Geri Gould

Opening Reception Thursday, May 4, 2023 at 6:30 PM

Geri Gould received her first camera at age eight from her father, Joe DiCuffa. He was a professional portrait photographer in New York City and provided a solid foundation of training and inspiration.

Her photography has been exhibited and recognized by the Easton Arts Council, Citizens for Easton, Black Rock Art Guild at Burroughs Community Center, Harborview Market and Framemakers Gallery.

Greiser’s Coffee & Market is privileged to partner with Kit Briner, Geri’s longtime love and companion, to show the final series of Geri’s work, “Discovered Light.”

After Geri passed away in January 2023, fellow Easton artist Robert Brennan assisted Kit in curating Geri’s this exhibit, which will be on display from May 4 through late June. All images are for sale in the store and online here.

This is how Brennan described Geri’s images and talent:  

Geri Gould was an artist who happened to use a camera. Like Claude Monet and so many other painters, Geri was on a continuous and relentless search for the light, and in the process, she discovered the shadows, thus starting a visual dialogue of elegance, intrigue, mystery, and poetry.

The light streams in through the window, is interrupted by the leg and side of the gate leg table. The shadow is cast on the wall as a silhouette. The artist chooses what to save and composes by distilling the visual elements of shape, line, texture, and value into powerful, simplified abstractions, not unlike Robert Motherwell’s paintings, inspired by the shadows cast by the “El” upon the Manhattan streets below.

Engaging in some kind of alchemy, Geri makes shapes dissolve into mystical visions, works of ambiguity, mystery, and beauty wherein the viewer is treated to a most sophisticated visual, mental, and emotional journey in which the artist simply but not simply, shows us what she found in the most common everyday occurrence of the sun shining through the window.

The interplay of the light and the dark has been the “stuff” of painters, poets, musicians, philosophers, and all variations of mankind since the first questions posed regarding the night and the day. As there can be no music without silence between the notes, there can be no elegant shadows unless the light is also present.

Geri Gould’s gift to us is in a plain, but not so plain symphony of shadow and light, composed over time in the finest tradition of art making, the passionate search to find beauty and meaning in the often missed light that may cast itself even across our bathroom wall.

Please join us for an opening reception to celebrate the art and life of Geri Gould at Greiser’s on Thursday, May 4, 2023 at 6:30 PM.

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Artist About Town: John Forgione’s Plein Air Paintings Return to Greiser’s

Opening Reception Thursday, February 9, 6:30 – 8:30 pm

The “old” Greiser’s, painted by John Forgione in 2018, two months before the “new” Greiser’s opened Nov. 1.

Easton is and has been home to many a famous artist.

Louise Bourgeois so loved her country home here that she sculpted a marble replica of it. Another globally known sculptor, Frederick Shrady, lived in Edna Ferber’s former estate on Maple Road. Naturalist painter and writer James Prosek developed an intense interest in fish as a child here and has since made a home in Easton with his own family. And now, NYC street artist Paul Richard rides around town on a vintage bicycle.

Yet part-time plein air painter John Forgione is arguably the most visible artist in Easton.

Weekdays, Forgione runs a digital marketing agency. But on weekends when the weather cooperates, he is a fixture of Easton’s open spaces. With his easel, oils, brushes, and canvas, you might find him in the orchard at Trout Brook Valley, amid the sunflowers on Adams Road, or capturing scenes at one of Easton’s bucolic farms; Gilbertie’s, Maple Row, Sabia’s, and Sport Hill Farm are among his beloved subjects. And he has been commissioned to capture on canvas several historic local homes.

Forgione also enjoys setting up his easel in other scenic Fairfield County spots, as well as on the water in Rhode Island, Barbados, Hawaii, and Positano. He’s even painted standing in the middle of the Brooklyn Bridge.

Easton painter John Forgione on the Brooklyn Bridge

But Easton is his home, and, contrary to the stereotype of the solitary, reclusive painter, Forgione is notably social. He and his wife Cara, parents of three JBHS grads, rarely miss an event at Greiser’s. They both participate in Easton Arts Council shows. And he’s been known to arrive at local parties and bars with his latest painting in tow for show and tell. He loves to talk about art and process.

On a recent Sunday afternoon at Greiser’s, Forgione engaged fellow painter Paul Richard in an animated conversation about canvas stretching techniques and employing the golden ratio in landscape painting. Richard said he thought he recognized Forgione from an Instagram post that pictured a painter on the street in NYC. Indeed, Forgione had attracted attention from passersby in October when he painted a scene at the corner of 21st Street and 9th Avenue in Chelsea.

On the day he bumped into Richard, Forgione was at Greiser’s to take some measurements. He’s getting ready to install a new exhibit here in February. It’s been nearly four years since he hung his paintings on the walls of the “new” Greiser’s, during our first year in business.

Back then, when space was even more limited than it is today, he hung his art on a wall in the kitchen — our “Galley Gallery” — and we invited guests to squeeze past the chest freezer and hand sink to view it. This time, we’re thrilled to be able to offer him professional hooks on art moulding in our dining room.

Come see how much we and the artist have grown over the years!

Opening reception Thursday, February 9, 2023, 6:30 pm – 8:30 pm, with musical entertainment by Mike Miles. Free admission. All artwork will be for sale. Overflow parking will be available across the intersection at the Congregational Church.

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The Spirit of Community: The New Greiser’s

by Kristin Lundbye

When Dick Greiser, owner of the gas station/antique and curiosities shop at the corner of Center and Westport Roads, closed the deli portion of the Easton landmark that had been in his family since 1926, some might have wondered what would become of the place. After all, Greiser Store has been part of the daily lives of Eastonites for almost a century.

So it was for Adrienne Burke who, in her eight years in Easton, had many occasions to stop in. But each time she drove by the historic storefront, she envisioned something different. She even broached the subject with Dick letting him know that she would love an opportunity to discuss the future of the store with him.

In June 2017 Dick announced he would no longer operate the deli, sparking Adrienne to put her plan into action. It took a year and a half of hard work and a fair amount of serendipitous coincidence, but Adrienne’s vision is now a reality. Since November 1, 2018, Greiser’s Coffee and Market has been open for business, welcoming familiar faces and new ones too, and etching a re-envisioned image of the iconic shop into the minds of Eastonites and visitors alike.

Take a close look around as you sip your nitro-brewed coffee and you’ll find traces of the store’s history. As many things that are different in the “new” Greiser’s, so many connections remain. The hummingbird apostrophe in the new name? Adrienne found the original antique etching at an Easton estate sale and thought it would make the perfect addition to her logo, never knowing that Dick and his late wife (known as Toni, but whose given name was also Adrienne) loved watching the birds in their yard. The eclectic chandelier hanging over the table? It was handmade by Danyel Ferrari, Toni and Dick’s daughter, from Adrienne’s personal eggbeater collection. The coffee mugs on the top shelf of the hutch near the entrance? They belong to the original “Greiser’s gang,” who congratulated Adrienne with a hummingbird card signed by each of them, now displayed behind the counter. The Helen Keller bust next to the green cabinet? Adrienne had her eye on the sculpture from the first time she visited the store. Dick presented it to her on opening day. And the Helen Keller quote that hung in Adrienne’s office from the time she was in her 20s? It reads, in part, “Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing.” Apropos for the risk Adrienne took to embark on her new business venture.

Still, the investment wasn’t Adrienne’s alone. Without the support of her husband, Jeff Foster, and collaboration from a tremendous number of friends and neighbors, Greiser’s Coffee and Market might not exist. Too many to name, Easton residents offered their assistance in drawing floor plans, reviewing marketing and merchandising concepts, completing a formal P&Z analysis, building the cabinetry, installing the point of sale and sound systems, providing baked goods, and even jumping behind the counter to serve customers on opening day. The help suggests another famous Helen Keller adage: “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.”

It only takes a moment inside the store to understand that Adrienne has created exactly what she set out to: a place where shoppers can enjoy a great cup of coffee while they browse locally sourced goods; a place where friends can gather for a quick hello and a bite to eat; a place where moms and daughters can catch up over a cup of cocoa; a place where neighbors can congregate to build the spirit of community. Greiser’s Coffee and Market is, as Adrienne hoped, “as much about the product as it is the experience.”

And if you’re in the market for a tank of gas or an antique curiosity, you can still find Dick Greiser in the back room of the Easton landmark.

 KRISTIN LUNDBYE IS AN EDITOR FOR EASTON NEIGHBORS MAGAZINE.

Article reprinted with permission from Easton Neighbors

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Longevity. Greiser’s Goes a Long Way Back.

by Bruce Nelson

If you’ve lived in Easton for any length of time, Greiser’s is likely the first name that comes to mind when you think about the proverbial old-fashioned general store. It has all the right ingredients to indicate a long life of serving the community. There’s the old post office on the east end of the building; the recently refurbished combination coffee shop, deli, and old fashioned country store, along with a very eclectic antique shop that reflects Easton’s past with its interesting selection of antiquities on the west side; and on the outside, there’s even a set of gasoline pumps where you can fill up the SUV while soaking up much the same bucolic atmosphere as your great grandparents would have encountered a hundred years ago. But just how long has this little piece of Easton’s past been around?

The short answer: a very long time!

The present building housing the post office and Greiser’s began life as two separate structures, both of which housed independently operated stores in their earlier days. The side holding the present post office was likely built somewhere around 1740 – build dates on structures of that era are almost never exact, they’re more educated guesses based on land transfers, deeds, wills, and a good deal of local oral history. The first owner was Stephen Wheeler, followed by members of the Seeley and Edwards families. That structure became known as the East Store after another building was constructed sometime around 1800 by David Turney a few yards to the west. The newer building soon became known as the West Store. That building was later sold to Anson Ryan who also operated a grist mill on the pond that sat to the south of both stores.
Selleck N. Osborn was born in 1832. In 1850 he was working as a shoemaker for Burr Bennett in his shop just to the north of the Center School on Westport Road. By 1860 he had become a fairly successful farmer, but farming was a hard life at best and Selleck decided hire some help to manage the farm while he began a new, slightly less physically demanding career as a merchant when he first purchased the East Store.

Unlike today’s Easton, there were many merchants who mostly served only the immediate area around their store in the mid-nineteenth century. When the opportunity presented itself in 1868, Selleck took over the position of Easton’s postmaster and moved the post office from the northern side of Center Road into the East Store. He earned a modest $50 that first year for handling the mail but having the post office in his store meant folks retrieving their mail would have to walk right by his merchandise. Increased business by 1870 allowed Mr. Osborn to purchase the nearby West Store and shortly there-after he moved it a few yards east and connected it to the older East Store to form the building we know today.

Osborn’s store became the hub of the center district and it survived even as Bennett’s bookmaking business, and the old grist mill faded into history. The store sold groceries, dry goods, feed and grain. Selleck Osborn – postmaster, deputy sheriff, and merchant – ran his business for over thirty years. When he passed away in 1901, his son Henry took it over and managed it until 1921. After over a sixty-year run, the business finally changed hands.

The Ruman brothers were the sons of Czechoslovakian immigrants. During the last years of the nineteenth century and well into the beginning of the twentieth, Easton saw a large influx of eastern European farmers who had fled their native land looking for a better life in America.

The Ruman Brothers store pictured above would serve both the new and the old residents of Easton for several years. By the early 1920’s the country store at the intersection of Center and Westport Roads was selling gasoline and tires. A large sign over the porch advertised the business as a Goodyear Service Station.

The next family to own the business was headed by Arthur R. Greiser who purchased the property from an aging Henry Osborn in 1926. Arthur and his wife Leontina ran the store and eventually moved into the house just to the east of the building. Their eldest son, Richard, came into the business and became the postmaster. Bringing in the third generation, Arthur’s grandson Richard eventually took over the operation later in the century and today still operates the antique store and gasoline pumps.

The main part of the original store has seen a recent renovation that fully keeps it within the character of the building as it has transitioned into gathering place where locals can still chat over a nice cup of freshly brewed coffee while enjoying a light breakfast or lunch. New coffee shop, deli and store owner, Adrienne Burke, has successfully managed to maintain the wonderful historical atmosphere of Easton’s oldest continued use commercial building.

So, now you know when you think country store, why you likely automatically think, Greiser’s. May it live on another 300 years!

BRUCE NELSON, WHO GREW UP IN EASTON, IS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH FOR THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF EASTON

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Retro and Quaint in New England: Greiser’s Coffee Shop and Country Store

by Gale PapaGeorge

I met up with some Easton friends this past Sunday at the new Greisers Coffee & Market. As a writer, I’m always observing my surroundings. Here’s what I found:

Greisers coffee shop not only offers local townspeople great coffee, baked goods and paninis, it also has the feel of a quaint New England country store, offering a nostalgic vibe that reminds us of simpler times. A time where locals met up for conversation before starting a busy day or winding down after work. Whether meeting up intentionally or just stopping in for a cup of Joe to go, people were striking up conversations all around me.

Like any general store, Greisers also carries hard to find unique gift items (many made by local Easton residents) as well as gourmet cheeses and maple syrup, while also offering some practical groceries for those in need of a last minute half gallon of milk.

As I was waiting on my friends, people sat down all around me, introducing themselves and including me in their light-hearted banter with their spouses and children. Maybe it’s the coziness and warmth of the decor that makes people feel like they are sitting in someone’s living room.

Since these types of country stores are typically found in quaint charming New England towns, Greiser’s Coffee Shop and General Store fits right in and is just what Easton needs.

Whether you live locally, or in a surrounding town, it’s worth making Greisers part of your daily or weekly routine.

GALE PAPAGEORGE MANAGES THE EASTON CT NEWS FACEBOOK PAGE

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Cappuccinos Come to Easton

by Ellin Curley

I am a life long resident of Easton, Connecticut. We have had two general stores in town since the 1920’s or 1930’s. One of those town traditions, Greiser’s, has reopened after a major transformation. It is now my favorite place in town.

The owner, Richard Greiser, has recently decided to retire. So he rented the front rooms of the store and kept the back room for his beloved and wonderful antiques.

The woman he rented to, Adrienne, decided to totally reinvent the front space. She turned it into a “gourmet” country store and coffee shop. It also sells miscellaneous items like candles and soaps, blankets and aprons and interesting teas. It has a distinctly upscale country vibe.

 The décor is warm, comfortable and rustic. There are places to sit down to enjoy your coffee, both inside and out, in an armchair or at a table. And there is still friendly conversation, with Adrienne (who is delightful) and other servers, as well as with other customers. So the experience is still small-town intimate.

But the food is totally high end. The refrigerator section houses vitamin waters, cheeses, cultured butter, frozen pastas and packed, marinated vegetables. Also sold are interesting jams, pestos, honeys and condiments.

Some of the teas and coffees served at the counter are cappuccinos, macchiatos, espressos, and chai lattes. Alternate milks are on hand for the lactose intolerant.

The baked goods are delicious, especially the croissants – almond for sweet and bacon and egg, ham and cheese and spinach and ricotta for savory. The cakes and muffins are flavors like orange spice and almond poppy seed and they often have macaroons as well. The sandwiches are paninis, like Brie and fig preserves on whole grain, locally baked bread.

I’m thrilled with the new Greiser’s. I love the vibe and the food. I’ll be even more excited when their chef (yes, they have a real chef) starts making cooked meals for dinner take-out.

I never thought I would be able to sit in a comfy chair and enjoy a cappuccino or latte just one mile from my home! But Easton now has a place to go with atmosphere, personality and charm as well as good food and good conversation. Now I can have a touch of culinary urbanity in my otherwise rural life.

Three Cheers!