Westport is home to so many multi-generational businesses that celebrate the power of a family legacy. In honor of Father's Day this month, Westport Lifestyle spotlights four family-based businesses that celebrate the connection between fathers and sons and have been positive influences on our community.
AMERICAN COLORS BY HENRY LEHR
66 Post Road E, acbyhenrylehr.com
Henry Lehr’s legendary clothing shop on Main Street outfitted countless Westporters in his Americana-influenced surplus style during the 37 years it was open, from 1977 until 2014. Henry and his wife, Toni, raised their family here in Westport. Eventually, the shop in Westport closed and the the Henry Lehr stores moved out to the Hamptons exclusively. Henry and Alex turned their full attention to design and manufacturing until last year, when Alex and his wife Shannon Lehr family made a triumphant return to downtown Westport when they opened American Colors by Henry Lehr at 66 Post Road E.
Returning to retail has been on Alex’s mind for years, but he needed the right location. “For the past seven years we would do pop-ups, but we were still primarily just wholesaling the brands and doing trade shows. But I always thought it would be great to have a flagship store, to get feedback and talk to customers,” he says. He says a few summers ago, while doing a pop-up in the Hamptons, he started hearing from Westporters that downtown would be the perfect place to open a more permanent outpost. When he found the spot they’re in now, it just felt right.
Opening American Colors has been more than a homecoming for Alex. “I’ve reconnected with old faces and friends, it’s kind of surreal,” he says. “I'm amazed by how many people speak so well of my dad—whether it was a small moment they had with him 30 years ago that they still remember or whether it was something they bought that he made, I’ve had so many wonderful interactions since coming back.” Henry passed away in 2021, and the store has given Alex a treasured connection to him. “I was always around [the business], and as a kid, it’s just part of your life. For me, he was my dad. As I’ve gotten a better understanding of how innovative he was—and now that I'm a dad too— it gives me a lot of peace that I had all that time with him.”
Alex’s take on the Henry Lehr brand bridges the generations between fans of the classic Henry Lehr style and newer shoppers who may not even know the storied history, because above all, the brand prioritizes craftsmanship. “Customers are constantly coming in saying ‘I still have a jacket that I bought in 1982, and I still wear it.’ Or even if they don’t wear it, ‘it means so much to me that I still have it,’” Alex says. “It really reinforces the importance of making quality things that last.” Like, for example, the Henry Lehr legacy.
LUX BOND AND GREEN
136 Main Street, lbgreen.com
Lux Bond and Green’s history goes back more than 125 years. In the 1870s, Morris A. Green immigrated from Lithuania and soon began repairing jewelry from a horse cart on the streets of Waterbury, Conn. “We believe he was doing that for about 10 years, until, In 1898, he was successful enough to open a storefront,” says John Green, president & CEO of Lux Bond and Green. In 1932, Morris’s sons— John’s great-uncles—pivoted expanded that business into buying Lux Bond & Lux Jewelers in Hartford, and the rest is history. Today, John and Norma as well as their sons his son Charlie wife his wife NIkita, and brother Dan are the fourth and fifth generation Greens at Lux Bond and Green, which has locations in Glastonbury, Mohegan Sun, West Hartford, Wellesley, Mass., and of course Westport, with a future storefront in Mystic on the way.
It’s rare that a family business makes it to the fifth generation, but if you’ve ever shopped at a Lux Bond and Green store, you know exactly why the brand has survived for so many years. “Knowing our customers and being ingrained in the community isn’t just important for us to continue to grow and thrive, but also because we want to have more than a salesperson-customer relationship with our customers: this is where our friends are created,” says John. It’s why, when celebrating their 125th anniversary two years ago, they launched a 125 Acts of Kindness campaign to donate to 125 worthy organizations. “It’s not just about the money,” says John. “We think of our company as a community resource" good human being.”
It makes sense that a brand that is part of such big moments in people’s lives— weddings, anniversaries, engagements, birthdays— would take kindness so seriously. “I always say we sell things people don’t need,” says John. “But they really want them. Because it's gonna help them remember something that was really important. Every time they look down at that engagement ring, or at their father's watch that was passed down through the generations, they have a connection with their past, present, and future.”
It’s true for customers and it’s true for their staff. “Seeing what my father and my grandfather and everybody has built to create the legacy of Lux Bond and Green, and that we are able to have staff who are 20 or 30 years into working here who are not family members— it’s because of the environment we fostered here,” says Charlie. “Creating a place where people can come and work and enjoy and feel safe and want to spend 30 years? I want to be able to continue that for the future.”
HIGGINS GROUP
30 Elm Street, higginsgroup.com
Rick Higgins moved to Connecticut three decades ago— from Saddle River, New Jersey where he had been a real estate lawyer for 20 years and built 200 homes to Fairfield, basically on a whim. His brother had recently settled in nearby New Canaan, and on a visit he “fell in love” and decided to move to the area. “In real estate, there’s two things you need,” he says. “To know people where you are, and to know where you are— to be able to get around. The only person I knew was my brother, who had only been there a year. And I have no sense of direction,” he says with a laugh. Still, despite having neither contacts nor a map of his new town committed to memory, Rick founded the Higgins Group, a real estate brokerage that thrived. Twenty-eight years later, they have grown from one agent (Rick) to more than 400 agents and ten offices, and they now represent Forbes in Connecticut. (To Rick’s credit, it’s not unusual for him to be proven right on an initial instinct— he bought the first land he saw when he went looking in Fairfield, and proposed to his wife on their third date.)
As Rick built the company, he followed four guiding principles. The first and most important, he says, “is your family always comes first.” Rick never wanted his agents to have to choose between work and, say, their children’s sporting events or school plays. It was also personal for him: Rick’s wife Adele serves as the Higgins Group’s vice chairman, and their son, Richard Higgins, is the chief operating officer. With his own family involved, and “family first” as an ethos, the staff became a family unto itself. "Outside of my family, I consider the agents at the Higgins Group as my best friends— and I try to respond to them in that manner," he says. His other principles: everyone is equal (you’ll never find a “top producer of the month” at the Higgins Group); treat others the way you’d like to be treated; and be kind. “This business is emotional,” he says. He never wants his team to forget that buying or selling a house can be an intense experience, and that a little empathy goes a long way.
With a foundation based on kindness, it’s not surprising that Rick has many employees who have been with the company nearly all of its 28-year history. When his son joined the business eight years ago, it became the cherry on top. “I really couldn’t do this without him,” Rick says. “I’ve been in this business for over 50 years, and I’ve made every mistake you can make, and I've learned from all of them. I really enjoy passing on my knowledge and teaching my son everything I can. Working with him, I’ve never been happier in my entire life.” It’s why Rick says he will “never retire”— the business, and most importantly the people in it, just mean too much to him. “Every day when I go to work, I feel good about it. I’m just really lucky.”
GAULT FAMILY COMPANIES
11 Ferry Lane West, gaultfamilyco.com
“My earliest memories of the family business were going with my father in the middle of the night to help dock the oil boat on the Saugatuck River,” says Sam Gault, the owner of Gault Family Companies. Gault Family Companies is the oldest business in Westport, and Sam is the fifth generation of his family to steward the business. “Every generation has put their own fingerprint on the business and it has grown in each generation, in one way or another; always with an eye on evolving to meet the changing needs of the customers we serve,” says Sam. “My grandfather and father both launched into the service business to take care of the heating systems for the customers that we delivered oil to. In the fifth and sixth generations, we have [expanded to become a] home solutions company at the forefront that also delivers energy. We are the one stop shop for all your heating, cooling, electrical, and stand-by power needs,” he explains.
Gault Family Companies takes their dedication to Westport seriously— Gault Cares, their program to support charitable organizations— is a notable sponsor of many iconic Westport institutions, including Pink Aid, Staples Wreckers, The Westport Woman’s Club, Homes With Hope, and many more. “Giving back to the communities that we serve is in our DNA, and has always been that way since my great-great grandfather, John Gault came to America from Ireland in 1860,” says Sam. “Nothing is more important to help support families, especially the children in our community to develop into productive young people.”
This legacy of service– along with his own family’s legacy— has been a source of joy for Sam as he guides the company five generations on. “One thing my grandfather always said that rings true today [is] ‘you are only as good as the people that you are working with,’” Sam explains. “That is a major reason we work as hard as we do to create a good culture at GFC, one where team members are well trained, challenged to do their best, and can enjoy themselves while they are doing worthwhile work.” It’s an inspiring mission. “ Four generations of reliability and commitment to the customer was already in place when I arrived on the scene,” he says. “I have really enjoyed working with the sixth generation as they have brought new ideas and strategies to utilize technology to the benefit of all our team members and customers.”