West Hartford Business Buzz June 23: Openings, Closings and Other News

People in West Hartford love to be "in the know" about happenings in town, especially the openings — and closings — of local businesses. We hear things all the time, and some of them turn into big stories. But sometimes we don't have enough news to write an entire story, even though the information is definitely newsworthy. For a while we ran a "Visions for Vacancies" feature on Sundays, but it was getting to be difficult to find vacancies every week.

Every Sunday we'll highlight the business stories you may have missed during the past week, and give you the scoop on the other news you may not have heard about. And if you have tips about businesses opening or closing, please include them in the comments or send an email to ronni.newton@patch.com.

• There's a business boom going on in Blue Back Square! One of the new businesses coming to West Hartford is Potbelly Sandwich Shop, which in September will be moving into the space vacated by It's a Grind. The Chicago-based Potbelly is much more than just a sandwich shop. It's full-service restaurant serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and will also feature live music.
• Muse Paintbar will also open in Blue Back Square this September. Customers of Muse Paintbar will have the opportunity to create paintings under the instruction of a local artist, while at the same time enjoying wine or beer and munchies.
• The build-out for Blue Plate Kitchen and Qdoba in the Bishops Corner Shopping Center is underway, with planned openings this fall. Patch has learned that the remainder of the space formerly occupied by PetCo (and before that Kitchen Etc.) will be another pet supply company – Pet Valu-US.
• Employees in the West Hartford office of BlumShapiro can wear jeans to work on Fridays – for the price of a donation to charity. The company recently donated $5,000 to the Alzheimer's Association thanks to the "Jeans for Charity" program.
• Do you have a business update to share? Post it on the West Hartford Patch Boards!