On a Tuesday in July 2014, the doors of the Abilis greenhouse on Glenville Street stood open. Gardeners walked between the flower beds outside and the seed trays inside, where they cut microgreens that went to Boxcar Cantina and Rebeccas. Greenwich Free Press described it as "a hive of activity," with a greenhouse that was "warm year round."
Twelve years later that greenhouse is gone. A one-story building now stands in its place at 50 Glenville Street, and Abilis Gardens & Gifts reopened there with a ribbon cutting on October 6, 2026. This time, Greenwich Free Press described the old structure as "not properly insulated for year-round use."
The two descriptions are less contradictory than they sound. A glass room can keep seedlings warm and still be a poor place to staff a cash register through January. What Abilis rebuilt was a store. Over the years the selling had become the main work at this address, and the new building is designed around it.
A Glass Room That Suited July
The 2014 operation was agricultural in a literal sense. Chris Hadin had run the greenhouse for Abilis for two and a half years by then. He told Greenwich Free Press that the tap water in the greenhouse ran alkaline, up to a pH of 8.5, and had to be adjusted before it reached the seedlings. Local restaurants used the Swiss chard microgreens as ingredients and garnishes, and Manursing Island Club in Rye had recently started buying regular supplies.
That was horticulture work: weeding, tilling, harvesting and rotating trays. The gift shop next door was part of the picture, but the greenhouse was the center of it.
The Shop Became the Classroom
The balance shifted in November 2017. Abilis's annual report for that year records that Abilis Gardens & Gifts "opened in November 2017 in our recently renovated gift shop and greenhouse." It describes the business as a way to teach clients retail skills:
- customer interaction
- transaction management
- inventory control
- purchasing
- merchandising
- promotion
None of those skills involve soil. The same report counted nearly 75 Abilis clients working in the community, three times as many as three years earlier, and credited Abilis-owned businesses as one of the drivers.
When Greenwich Moms covered the 2017 grand reopening, then-CEO Dennis Perry described the inventory as mostly handmade: bath products, candles and jewelry, many made by the shop's own employees. Fresh-cut flowers, seasonal plants and microgreens came after them. The shop was described as a training site for community jobs in "sales, production, inventory, order fulfillment and shipping/delivery services."
By 2017, the greenhouse was mostly a place to display what the shop sold.
Twelve Years at 50 Glenville Street
| Date | What happened at the site |
|---|---|
| July 2014 | Greenhouse grows microgreens for Boxcar Cantina, Rebeccas and Manursing Island Club |
| November 2017 | Abilis Gardens & Gifts opens in the renovated gift shop and greenhouse as a retail-training business |
| December 2024 | Holiday Sip & Shop; poinsettias, orchids, amaryllis and paperwhite kits sold in the greenhouse |
| June 4, 2025 | Architectural Review Committee reviews the plan to replace the greenhouse |
| June 30, 2025 | Revised exterior plans approved by an ARC member |
| December 3, 2025 | Holiday Sip & Shop held in Abilis's main building during the renovation |
| October 6, 2026 | Ribbon cutting for the renovated building |
The December rows show what the old building made difficult. In December 2024, Greenwich Free Press photographed poinsettias, orchids, amaryllis bulbs and paperwhite kits "in the greenhouse." The greenhouse still held the holiday stock. A year later the 2025 Sip & Shop notice said the event would be "held in Abilis' main building this year," with 25% off the entire store from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m. The shop's annual holiday evening went ahead in a borrowed room while its own space was rebuilt.
What the Town Reviewed
The plan went before Greenwich's Architectural Review Committee on June 4, 2025, filed as PLPZ 2025 00217. It called for "replacement of the existing greenhouse with a one-story structure," along with new siding on the masonry building, a new roof, windows and doors, and new lighting. The property is in the R-7 zone.
The committee voted 5-0 for an "Electronic Return," meaning the applicant would send revisions by email. The meeting minutes list what members wanted revised:
- Further study of the windows and cladding.
- Details on the perennial plantings along the building and a possible landscape strip facing the parking area.
- Gutters and downspouts shown in the renderings.
- Smaller columns, which members found "oversized and boxy."
- A separate signage application at a later date.
The notes also record that all mechanical equipment would sit on the roof behind screening. According to the ARC's July 9, 2025 agenda, committee member Heidi Brake-Smith approved the revised materials on June 30, 2025. The ARC reviewed the sign application in April 2026 and gave it another Electronic Return.
The Shelves Now
The reopening coverage describes the new building as "spacious, accessible" and lists what is for sale: handmade soaps, candles, bath and body products, jewelry, and grab-and-go floral arrangements. The Abilis store page lists flowers, jewelry, handmade bath and body products, candles and gifts, and calls the shop "a retail-store training site."
Flowers are still on the list, sold as ready-made arrangements. Nothing in the reopening coverage mentions growing. It describes a shop where adults with disabilities train in retail.
The timing of the ribbon cutting fit that purpose. October is National Disability Employment Awareness Month, and First Selectman Fred Camillo issued a proclamation saying the vocational program at Abilis Gardens & Gifts reflects the belief that every person, regardless of ability, has talents and contributions to offer the community. The Greenwich Sentinel noted that Abilis employment programs also place participants at the Greenwich Library café and the Island Beach concession stand. Abilis was founded in 1951 and serves families across Fairfield County.
Planning a Visit Around Weekday Hours
The shop keeps weekday hours that are easy to miss:
- Glenville store: 50 Glenville Street, Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., or by appointment at 203-531-4438.
- Town Hall pop-up: the lobby at 101 Field Point Road, every Wednesday and Thursday, 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., with handcrafted Abilis products and fresh flowers.
The store is closed on weekends and closes at 3:00 p.m. A Saturday errand run along Glenville Street will find the doors locked, so a weekday lunch hour is the realistic window. If you have business at Town Hall on a Wednesday or Thursday, you can shop the pop-up in the lobby. Abilis's own page is the place to check for any holiday hours or a 2026 Sip & Shop date as December gets closer.
At Charles Paternina & Associates, we follow how Greenwich's long-standing institutions change their buildings to keep doing their work, from Glenville Street to Field Point Road. If you would like to talk through what a project like this means for the blocks around it, we welcome you to Request a Private Consultation.
