Since Soundview Empowerment Alliance bought Old Mill Grocery & Deli in 2022, two operators have run the market at 222 Hillspoint Road. Both stayed through the beach season, and both left in September. The Granola Bar left in September 2023. Romanacci's last day was Sept. 29, 2026, as CT Insider reported.
Old Mill does well on a July afternoon when Compo Beach is full. Its owners now say plainly that the store has to work on an ordinary weekday in the off-season, and that is the standard they're using to pick the next tenant.
Two Operators, Two Septembers
The store has been around since 1919, when it opened as The Old Mill Store and soon became Old Mill Grocery & Deli. Over the decades it went by other names. According to 06880, Ken Montgomery ran it through the 1950s, '60s and '70s. Later it was Kenny's, Elvira's and Joey's by the Shore.
The current era started with a rescue. The previous owners sold and moved out of state at the end of 2021. SEA chair Jim Hood told CT Insider in 2023 that no buyer or operator stepped forward and the building nearly came down. Hood and a group of neighbors raised $1.4 million from about 550 donors in a matter of weeks. CT Insider later reported a purchase price of $1.5 million.
Here is the timeline since then:
- July 25, 2022. The Granola Bar opens, roughly two months after taking over. The commercial kitchen went in within about a month.
- September 2023. The Granola Bar leaves after a little more than a year.
- January 2024. On Jan. 14, 06880 announced Romanacci, run by brothers Graziano and Maurizio Ricci, as the new operator. They put in a new floor, a large communal table and an open kitchen.
- Feb. 18, 2026. A Superior Court judge strikes down the zoning amendments that would have let the market serve alcohol.
- Sept. 29, 2026. Romanacci closes at Hillspoint Road. Its location at 46 Railroad Place stays open.
The last change of operators left the store dark for roughly four months, from the Granola Bar's exit in fall 2023 to Romanacci's arrival in early 2024. The current gap began at the same point in the calendar.
Profitable, Just Not Profitable Enough
Romanacci didn't leave because the business failed. SEA co-founder Ian Warburg told the Westport Journal that "they made money," calling it "a profitable operation, not wildly profitable and not sufficient to keep their attention when they have other much more profitable activities to engage in and pursue." He said the Riccis did "a really great job." Their real obstacle, he said, was how seasonal the location is. The brothers are now concentrating on growing their restaurant business, which includes a new Romanacci in Darien.
That's the economics of a beach store in one quote. Summer brings in money. The other months have to bring in enough to keep a capable restaurant group interested when it has other places to put its time. Two experienced operators in a row did the arithmetic and decided to move on.
In a September opinion piece on 06880, Hood and Warburg named what has worn away the year-round habit. COVID changed routines, the neighborhood changed, and delivery services changed how people buy food and household basics. They also argued those changes don't make the store unviable.
What SEA Is Asking For
Warburg put it most directly in the Westport Journal.
"The viable future is an operator who comes in with a really site-specific plan and concept that's less seasonal in nature, more year-round in offering."
He pointed to the property's own past as proof that it can work: "We have the history to demonstrate that it can be done. It just takes putting together the right combination of offerings and marketing it well to the community."
The opinion piece spelled out what that combination looks like: "great prepared food, groceries, beverages, convenience items and other permitted offerings, with reasons for people to stop in throughout the day and throughout the year." It also made clear that SEA isn't trying to recreate the past. "We're not out to recreate Elvira's, or Kenny's before it," Hood and Warburg wrote.
The Terms the Next Operator Inherits
Several fixed conditions shape what any new concept at 222 Hillspoint Road can be. Taken together, they push every serious proposal toward the same answer, which is a neighborhood market that earns visits every day.
- The building can only be one of two things. Hood told CT Insider in 2023 that the zoning allows only a food service business or a house, so the property can't be redeveloped as something else.
- On-premises alcohol is off the table under the current ruling. Judge Dale W. Radcliffe found that alcohol sales at the property were an unlawful expansion of its preexisting nonconforming use. Nearby residents who brought the challenge had raised concerns about parking, traffic, noise and pedestrian safety. Days after the decision, Town Attorney Ira Bloom told the Westport Journal that the town disagreed with the court's analysis and had not yet decided whether to appeal.
- A BYOB element is possible. Warburg said SEA is open to it, depending on what gets proposed and permitted.
- The landlord isn't chasing top rent. Because SEA is a nonprofit, Hood and Warburg wrote, it can offer "a modest, commercially reasonable rent designed to help the business succeed."
- The mission comes with the lease. SEA was formed to preserve the store and to create opportunities for young people with disabilities. Hood said in 2024 that Romanacci was committed to that second goal of training workers and helping them find jobs.
With no alcohol revenue and food service as the only business use the zoning allows, the operation can't lean on a strong summer bar or swap in a more lucrative purpose. Low rent eases the pressure but doesn't remove it. What's left to work with is the old corner-store model of coffee, sandwiches, groceries and the things people run out of, which is the model Hood and Warburg describe.
Where Things Stand Heading Into November
SEA has said it is in talks with several prospective operators. Its Sept. 13 statement on 06880 described them as "strong" candidates, "including successful well-known local operators." In the Westport Journal, Warburg counted "no fewer than four very capable and experienced groups." One of them, he said, "wants to start like tomorrow," although SEA plans to weigh every proposal before choosing.
Hood sounded confident in a reader comment under the September opinion piece, writing that the market will be "back up and running... very soon." Neither that comment nor SEA's September statements gave a date or named a successor. The store's website still shows Romanacci branding.
If the last changeover is any guide, a winter reopening fits the pattern. Romanacci was announced in mid-January 2024 after a fall without an operator. Whoever comes next will open in the season SEA has named as the hardest one, without a summer crowd to build on.
Places like Old Mill are part of what a Hillspoint Road or Compo-area address means, and buyers ask about them as often as they ask about square footage. If you live near the beach and are wondering how the neighborhood's next chapter fits into your own plans, Gina Hackett is glad to talk it through, starting with what your home is worth today. Request Your Home Valuation.
