Drive into Glenville on a weekday morning and the first thing the new supermarket shows you is a sign telling you to go around it. DeCicco & Sons opened at 21 Glenville Street on Wednesday, September 9. The signs at the curb send drivers behind the building, because the main entrance and most of the parking are now in back. A door on Glenville Street is still open. The building was turned around on purpose, though, and that change caps three years of work that gave the center of Glenville a different layout. Cars now use the back of the block. The front faces the street, and the street now has sidewalks.
The supermarket came back last. The road, the curb and the old post office building were all reworked before the groceries returned.
Three Years Without a Full Grocery
The Glenville Stop & Shop was announced to stay open through June 15, 2023, according to Patch. Greenwich Time later reported that it closed that summer. From then until DeCicco opened this September, Glenville went about three years without a full-service supermarket.
The rest of the block kept changing during those years:
| When | What changed on the block |
|---|---|
| Summer 2023 | Stop & Shop closes at 21 Glenville Street |
| Before fall 2026 | The former post office building reopens as restaurant and retail space |
| June 21–25, 2026 | Overnight final paving on the Glenville Corridor project |
| September 9, 2026 | DeCicco & Sons opens in the former Stop & Shop space |
| October 6, 2026 | Abilis Gardens & Gifts reopens in a new building at 50 Glenville Street |
By the time the grocer arrived, the street in front of it had already been rebuilt.
The Front Curb Changed First
The Glenville Corridor Traffic and Pedestrian Safety Project covers about 1,500 feet, from the intersection of Glen Ridge Road and Glenville Street to Weaver Street. It retimed the traffic signals, reworked the intersections and added sidewalks, Greenwich Free Press reported in June. The most visible change is in front of Glenville Pizza. For decades, cars parked there at odd angles on the slope along the curve. That spot is now a curb, a grass strip and a sidewalk, with parallel spaces close by.
The Town's Department of Public Works scheduled the last major step for late June. Overnight milling and paving ran from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m., starting Sunday, June 21 and expected to finish Thursday, June 25, weather permitting. The paving covered about half a mile, mostly on Glenville Road between Weaver Street and Glen Ridge Road, plus parts of Weaver Street, Pemberwick Road, Riversville Road and Glenville Street. Here is how the Town's notice described what would be left after that:
"Upon completion, only minor punch-list items and final project closeout activities will remain."
That means by the time the summer ended, cars could no longer pull up and park along the front of the block. The curve where people once parked was now built for walking.
The Supermarket Was Built Around the Rear Lot
DeCicco's store fits that street. The main entrance is now at the back of the building, next to an expanded rear parking lot, and signs on Glenville Street point drivers there. With the front curb rebuilt for walking, the parking at the 21 Glenville Street center is in back.
Inside, the market is about 20,000 square feet in the former Stop & Shop space. DeCicco added its signature tower to the building. Greenwich Free Press's opening-day coverage listed produce, pastries and cakes, prepared foods with a hot bar, baked goods, cheese, meat, seafood and a deli counter with sliced cold cuts and ready-to-eat salads. This is the family-owned grocer's first store in Connecticut and its first outside New York. The family's grocery roots go back to 1973, when John DeCicco Sr. talked his family into buying a small grocery in the Bronx where he had worked as a delivery boy.
The hours are longer than those of any other business on the block:
- Monday through Saturday, 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.
- Sunday, 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.
- Phone: (203) 742-0410
On a first visit, the practical tip is the rear entrance. Opening-day photos show plenty of parking behind the building next to the main door, while the Glenville Street door is now the secondary one. If you drive up expecting the old Stop & Shop setup, you will end up at the side door.
The Old Post Office Filled In Before the Groceries
By the time DeCicco opened, the rest of the shopping center was already busy. The renovated former post office building is home to four food businesses: Green & Tonic, Luca's Pizzeria and Italian Kitchen, Longford's Ice Cream and Bluebird Taqueria.
Each has its own schedule, and none of them matches the grocer's:
- Green & Tonic lists its Glenville location with hours and online ordering for pickup.
- Bluebird Taqueria lists its Glenville Street address and takes orders for pickup and delivery.
- Longford's Ice Cream is listed at 21 Glen Ridge Road and opens at noon. It closes at 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday and at 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. It also hosts birthday parties for ages 4 and up and small ice cream-making "playdates" for groups of two to four, booked by phone or email. Custom ice cream cakes need five days' notice, ordered by phone only.
- Luca's Pizzeria and Italian Kitchen was among the center's restaurants when DeCicco opened in September.
For three years, these restaurants were the reason to stop at the center, with an empty supermarket next door. Now the block has a full day of hours. DeCicco opens at 7:30 a.m., the restaurants cover the middle of the day, and Longford's stays open later than the grocer on Friday and Saturday nights.
Fifty Glenville Street, Rebuilt for Winter
Up the street, at 50 Glenville Street, the other big change this fall serves a different purpose. Abilis Gardens & Gifts reopened on October 6 in a renovated building. It is a retail training site for the Abilis Employment program, where adults with disabilities learn job and vocational skills.
The old shop was built around a greenhouse that, as Greenwich Free Press put it, "was not properly insulated for year-round use." The new building is roomy and accessible. That matters most right now, as the shop heads into its first winter in a building made for cold weather. The shelves hold handmade soaps, candles, bath and body products, jewelry and grab-and-go flower arrangements. Purchases support the Abilis Competitive Employment program. The shop is open Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., which makes it a weekday stop.
The reopening fell during National Disability Employment Awareness Month. First Selectman Fred Camillo marked it with a proclamation recognizing the program's vocational training.
A Weekday Errand, Start to Finish
Put the pieces together and a weekday errand in Glenville looks different from what it did a year ago. One way it can go, for anyone running errands before 3 p.m.:
- Turn in at the rear lot of 21 Glenville Street and go in through DeCicco's main entrance for groceries, deli and the hot bar.
- Walk the new sidewalk along the corridor instead of moving the car.
- Stop at Abilis Gardens & Gifts at 50 Glenville Street for flowers or a candle before it closes at 3 p.m.
- Head back past the old post office building for lunch, or wait until noon or later, when Longford's opens.
The corridor work made that walk possible, the rear lot gives the car a place to stay, and the supermarket gives a reason to stop in the first place. Three years ago, none of those pieces existed in their current form. This fall is the first season they are all open at once, and with Thanksgiving shopping weeks away, the new rear entrance at 21 Glenville Street gets its first holiday rush soon.
If a full block of new storefronts has you wondering what this fall means for your own Glenville home, Kate Cacciatore can walk you through how buyers are looking at the streets closest to the corridor and the new market. Request a Confidential Home Valuation, and Kate will keep the conversation as private as the decision.