Woodbridge - Ellen Eisenberg drove by Coyne's at the Red Barn for many years, harboring a fantasy that Joseph Coyne and his wife, Edwardene, would agree to sell her their gift store business.
    She even considered approaching them with the idea.
    "I'd say to my husband, 'Do you think I can ask Mr. Coyne if he wants to retire?'" Eisenberg said.
    But Eisenberg, who for five years ran the boutique just down the road at the Jewish Community Center of Greater New Haven, never quite got up the nerve.
    Then, last summer, a "Retirement Sale" sign went up outside Coyne's, at 378 Amity Road.
    Eisenberg, a Woodbridge resident who had shopped there often, drove by as Joseph Coyne was putting up the sign and figured it must be fate.
    She and the Coynes eventually struck a deal and about a month ago The Red Barn of Woodbridge - an institution of a slightly different name under the Coynes for some 40 years - opened with a new inventory that is different in many ways than what the Coynes offered, but equally unique.
    "I'm so happy in here, I feel like I won the lottery, Eisenberg said.  "I always felt I was meant to be in a shop."
    The store carries gifts, boutique clothing, handbags and jewelry, as well as personal care and beauty products.
    Eisenberg said her biggest challenge is keeping prices reasonable.
    Joseph Coyne, who still owns the building, has been helping Eisenberg with the transition.  Coyne, who misses customers most of all, said he and Edwardene, whose five children all worked in the store at some point, feel great about what Eisenberg had done.
    "She's doing a wonderful job," Joseph Coyne said.  "Anybody getting into retail has to have an eye."
    Eisenberg said she wants every item to be special.  "I ask my vendors. 'Am I going to see this at T.J. Maxx or Toys R Us?" she said.
    Former First Selectwoman Nan Birdwhistle stopped in recently and noted that, while it's sad to see the Coynes leave, it's also great the "Baton has been passed."
    "It's the best of the old with new panache to it," Birdwhistel said.  "It's a perfect transition and I'm thrilled with it."
    While at the JCC, Eisenberg transformed the boutique from a tiny shop of Judaic items that was $40,000 in debt, to a thriving boutique.  It is now closed with her departure, but she remains as marketing director for the organization.
    At the Red Barn, she carries many Judaic items and is taking advice from the Coynes on Christmas items, which she carries, but admits is a personal weakness because, as a Jew, the holiday is new to her.
    Eisenberg has always had the urge for retail, and in earlier days held some interesting jobs, including as Vice President of Creative Services both at New Line Cinema and Viacom.
    She helped launch the original "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles," and other cult films, as well as "The Montel Williams Show" in the early 1990s.  She also owned a Norwalk photography business.


Education

BA, English Literature, University of Wisconsin/Madison, 1979
MA, English Literature, Columbia University, 1981

Employment

Marketing Director, Jewish Community Center of Greater New Haven, 1999-2007
Vice President, Creative Services, Viacom International, Entertainment Division, 1989-1992
Vice President, Marketing/Advertising, New Line Cinema, 1987-1989
Creative Services Manager, Financial News Network, 1986-1987
Promotion Manager, Viacom International, Syndication Division, 1982-1986
Writer/Producer, Interface Public Policy Organization, 1981-1982