Why Small Businesses Matter in Norwalk and Stamford: Pinot's Palette Paint & Sip Studio

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Why Small Businesses Matter

Shop small, do big things for your community

Why Small Businesses Matter puts a spotlight on the local merchants who donate their time, talent, goods, and services for the betterment of our community. The shop local movement spreads virally as local businesses who are “tagged” have the opportunity to share their story!

You're IT Pinot's Palette Paint & Sip Studio.

Three questions with Chad Smith, owner of Pinot's Palette Paint & Sip Studio in Stamford, Norwalk and Mamaroneck, NY and Toronto, Canada.

Why did you start your business?  

I come from a family of small business owners.  I had been a Naval Officer and a Foreign Exchange Salesman at various banks, but always felt a tug to do something in small business as well.  Unfortunately, I didn’t have any ideas!  That was until I came across Pinot’s Palette and the idea of bringing Art to the masses in a fun and entertaining way to our community just made sense.  We found a location in Stamford’s Harbor Point after endless searching, opened there to great reception and soon opened locations in Mamaroneck, NY, Norwalk and even Toronto.  Now we Paint, Drink and Have Fun with tens of thousands of people each year, all ages and for countless celebration.  We also have a tremendous vehicle to get involved in the community through our Painting it Forward fundraising program. 

We have a number of popular offerings, from fundraisers in our studios to glow-in-the-dark Black Light paintings, which are done under the glow of ultraviolet light.  One of our best-selling services is Project Pet.  Our guests send in pictures of their dogs, cats or other fur babies.  We digitize them onto canvas and, in the studio, walk them through step-by-step to paint their favorite animals.  Since they have a ‘roadmap’ of sorts with a picture on canvas to paint, and since the subject is something important to the guests, the result is a fun and rewarding class. 

 How many people do you employ? Any youth or seniors from the community?  We employ about 15-20 Artists from the local community.  It’s very rewarding to be able to offer fun, regular employment to artists who often struggle to find work that is consistent and flexible, but also within their ‘field’.  We have employed Stamford high school students and College-age summer residents and will be participating in high-school-sponsored internship programs.  In our Norwalk location, we work with STAR, Inc., non-profit serving individuals with developmental disabilities. We not only paint with some of their groups, they also provide us with some of the best workers available to help with day-to-day custodial and organizational activities. 

How many local businesses do you use to support your business (products and services) and can you name them?  We rely on several local businesses to support our Painting Events.  Jerry’s Artarama has some of the most responsive customer service around.  Brescome Barton keeps the wine flowing for us.  We also partner with many local restaurants that have been curated to help us offer food for our many private events that we hold in studio.  Among them are Bareburger, Corbo’s Southside and Renapoli.

Pinot's Palette has two locations in Connecticut: Norwalk and Stamford. Learn more about Pinot's Palette by visiting them online here.

Pinot's Palette tags Jerry’s Artarama.

HamletHub thanks Fairfield County Bank for making our Why Small Businesses Matter series possible!

 

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Submitted by Norwalk, CT

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