Round Hill's Crossroads Is Changing Hands. Here's What Neighbors Asked to Keep.

Somewhere in the Round Hill Store's archives are handwritten bookkeeping journals that go back to 1861. They record household accounts for local customers: their names, what they bought and what they paid. The store was already sixty years old when the first of those pages was written.

On August 26, 2026, the store and the Round Hill Service Station had their first change of ownership in 111 years. According to the Round Hill Association, the property went from the Strain family to Chuck Royce and family and the Brumberg families, brothers Matthew and Ryan. The new owners are all local residents, and they hold the property under the name Round Hill Preservation Society. Over the same summer, Kelsey Farm on Lake Avenue closed after 77 years, and a new stable is getting ready to move in.

Two landmarks are getting new stewards in one season, and both are describing the change as a way to keep things as they are. What is still open in Round Hill this fall comes down to specifics: a deli counter, a mailbox, parking at the corner, and the number of horses on Lake Avenue.

A corner with only four owners since 1801

The association describes the store as established in 1801 and believed to be the oldest continuously operating retail business in Connecticut. In 225 years it has had just three ownership groups before this one. It first stood on the southwest corner of Round Hill and Old Mill roads, facing east. It was a stagecoach stop, and from 1830 to 1901 it was the local post office. Later the building was moved across the street to where it stands now, facing west.

William Strain bought the store in 1915, and four generations of his family owned and ran it after him. When cars arrived, the family added the service station and an oil delivery business. Most recently the property belonged to five sisters, all great-granddaughters of William Strain. The store and the station still run as separate businesses. Robin Strain Vanacore runs the store, and Sandy Strain Regan and her brother-in-law, John Wood, run the station.

The association's description of a normal day at the counter is the best case for why this sale got so much attention. Landscapers and tradespeople come in for coffee or something from the deli. Neighbors pick up household basics. Cyclists stop for a break. The store's own site lists deli selections, sandwiches, prepared meals, household and convenience goods, gifts and general provisions.

Why a nonprofit bought it

On Wednesday evening, September 23, more than 50 people filled the parlor of Round Hill Community Church to hear Royce and Ryan Brumberg describe their early thinking. Royce is moving to Round Hill Road from Riverside. Brumberg lives in Back Country and serves on the RTM and on the association's board. More than 100 people had already answered an email survey on the property. The Greenwich Sentinel put the count at 113 responses, with strong interest in food, coffee and a place to gather.

The association's meeting recap explains the structure. The purchase had been under discussion with the Strain family for two years. The property will be owned by a nonprofit, and its organizers plan to go door to door in the area to raise money for the project. The owners said their main goal "always was, and is, to protect the location from unwanted development."

The plan has two stages:

• Short term: improve what is there now and "polish up" the existing store right away.
• Longer term: reconfigure the property and plan any new development the area needs.

The longer-term idea is being floated as a Round Hill Village Center. It could include a café with seating, gourmet coffee and quality prepared foods, plus space for small gatherings. Other small buildings on the site might hold pizza, ice cream, flowers or other specialty products. There could be outdoor seating, and the second floor of the store might be used for meetings. All of this is still a set of ideas. The owners have not attached dates to either stage, and they have said they want community feedback before anything is final.

The list neighbors handed back

The requests from the room were mostly about keeping things. In the association's recap, the residents' asks were:

1. Keep the service station, with John and Hector, if they want to stay.
2. Take out the parking in front of the store, which blocks sightlines at the corner, while still providing enough spaces for more customers.
3. Keep the deli sandwiches for lunch customers who work in Back Country, a large part of the store's trade.
4. Put a U.S. Post Office drop box in the store or close to it.
5. Keep stocking household items.
6. Keep some of the old antiques, such as the cash register and the trains.
7. Add signage, lights or a crosswalk to slow traffic on Round Hill Road.

Read against the store's history, a few of these stand out. Asking for a mailbox at a building that was the post office from 1830 to 1901 is asking for something the corner used to do. The deli request is about the tradespeople who already make up the store's weekday customers. The traffic requests come from the building's position: it sits right at the corner, so cars parked out front block the view at the intersection.

The service station is also worth a look. It stopped selling gasoline in 2022, when the pumps were removed, and the garage kept doing repairs and maintenance. When neighbors ask to keep the station, they are asking to keep a repair bay and two familiar mechanics. The pumps are already gone.

On Lake Avenue, the same promise with horses

The second landmark is on Lake Avenue. Kelsey Farm had been a riding operation run by the Kelsey family for 77 years. Easy Kelsey's parents started it on 10 acres, and Easy built it into a year-round riding school with professional trainers and small classes. By the first of August 2026 the horses were gone and the farm had closed.

According to the Round Hill Association, Serenity Show Stable is replacing Kelsey Farm at 1016 Lake Avenue. Ruth Nicodemus founded the hunter/jumper show stable in 2014, and she and her husband, Ted Grogan, hoped to move it from Redding this October. Greenwich Free Press reported that the last recorded sale of the property was in 2019, and that the two LLCs holding it were still registered to Elise Kelsey Merrow, though word was that they had passed to Nicodemus and Grogan. The couple also plans to bring The Serenity Project to the farm. It is a 501(c)(3) Nicodemus founded in 2022 that offers equine therapy at no cost, and Grogan is its executive director.

Nicodemus framed the move much the way the store's new owners framed theirs. "We fell in love with the history and character of the farm exactly like it is," she told the Round Hill Association, adding that they want to honor that history while "making some thoughtful updates." Work has already started. The outdoor ring is being reconfigured and enlarged for training and jumping, and more stalls are going into the barn.

How much those updates involve is now in front of the town. Planning and Zoning application PLPZ 2026 00313 would change the conditions of a 1979 special exception covering 1014 and 1016 Lake Avenue, which together total 9.7771 acres in the R-4 zone. It would raise the number of permitted horses from 14 to 24. It would also remove the ownership designation and the limits on riding classes per week and students per class. On the commission's September 29 action agenda, the item was left open. The hearing must open by November 5, 2026, and the latest possible extension runs to January 9, 2027.

At the farm and at the store, the people taking over say the history is what drew them. The details still being settled are the number of horses, the class sizes, and where the cars park.

The next few weeks in Round Hill

For anyone who wants to follow these decisions, or just keep up with the rest of the neighborhood, here are the dates on the calendar:

The Halloween party is this afternoon, on the same stretch of Lake Avenue as the farm. The Greenwich Riding and Trails Association's Silver Horse Ball comes two days after the hearing deadline, and tickets and sponsorships are on sale now.

The Round Hill Preservation Society has said it will knock on doors before it finalizes plans for the store. The first stage is the short-term polish of the store that exists today.

At New England Land, we spend our days on a similar question at the old Homestead Inn on Field Point Road: how to restore a place with a long history without losing what made people value it. If you'd like to see how The Field Point is handling that, from the hand-hewn beams to the on-site dining room, we'd be glad to arrange a private consultation and share residence details.