Open the doors to Cigars

Open one door at the Bridgeport Innovation Center and you'll find a warehouse full of beers from the Czech Republic; open another, and you might see stacks of toys, cigars, candied apples or managers of a construction company huddled over blueprints.

You could also say those doors open onto dreams, whether that's starting a new business or keeping one alive that is being threatened by the rising costs of rent in more expensive areas.

The Innovation Center opened in the mid-1980s in the red-brick factory buildings built in the early 1900s for the American Chain Co. at 955 Connecticut Ave. It's a business incubator, simply defined as a complex where rents are affordable and people have an opportunity to grow their businesses.

The Connecticut Post Online - ROOM TO GROW

technorati tags:cigars, Bridgeport, Innovation, Center