[Marc Wallace]

...in the Tunxis hill/villa Ave/Gypsy Spring area of Fairfield you had Arlans (then Caldor, now Kohls), coupled with the supermarket "Pantry Pride" . PP was by far the dirtiest store in Fairfield. Always stank of rotted food as soon as you'd walk in the door! There was another Pantry Pride in the Circle in Fairfield-same deal there, too!
Then there was Topps dept store where Stop & Shop is now. It became Bradlees around 1973? I think? Up the street going towards Black Rock Tpke was the A&P...didn't shop there too much. Then onto BR Tpke was Finast, then became Big Buy. I believe it was originally a First National, IIRC.
I have many MANY early memories of this particular section of town, having grown up there and going shopping with my mom. Such great memories!!

[MrGompers]

There was a Guida's ice cream store on the corner of Farmington Ave and ? in New Britain. Very close to the Farmington/New Britain city line. It was on the way to Batterson Park Pond. My mom used to take us kids there all the time.

The Stop & Shop on RT 372 in Cromwell used to be half its current size. The other half of the building was a Bradlees. During the 90's they took over that space and created the huge store there now. Despite that growth, the store still seems to be running the same number of employees it had before it expanded.

[JayCT]

Originally Posted by Marc Wallace

...in the Tunxis hill/villa Ave/Gypsy Spring area of Fairfield you had Arlans (then Caldor, now Kohls), coupled with the supermarket "Pantry Pride" . PP was by far the dirtiest store in Fairfield. Always stank of rotted food as soon as you'd walk in the door! There was another Pantry Pride in the Circle in Fairfield-same deal there, too!
Then there was Topps dept store where Stop & Shop is now. It became Bradlees around 1973? I think? Up the street going towards Black Rock Tpke was the A&P...didn't shop there too much. Then onto BR Tpke was Finast, then became Big Buy. I believe it was originally a First National, IIRC.
I have many MANY early memories of this particular section of town, having grown up there and going shopping with my mom. Such great memories!!

Hi Marc - I also grew up there during this time. I remember all of these. We may know each others families. My mothers family moved to Tunxis Hill in 1940, while my father's around 1915. Some of my family worked at Topps, right up until it closed. My mother always shopped at the A&P as well as Miro's for fruits and vegetables and Fairway and Leopold's for meats and cold cuts. Occasionally we would shop at First National/Finast/Big Buy or at Grand Union further up Black Rock Turnpike but only if there was something good on sale. Hard to believe there were so many supermarkets in Fairfield back then. Today you have 2 Stop & Shop's and a Shop Rite. Do you remember the W.T. Grants on Black Rock Turnpike too? Jay

[whome224]

Originally Posted by JayCT

Hi Marc - I also grew up there during this time. I remember all of these. We may know each others families. My mothers family moved to Tunxis Hill in 1940, while my father's around 1915. Some of my family worked at Topps, right up until it closed. My mother always shopped at the A&P as well as Miro's for fruits and vegetables and Fairway and Leopold's for meats and cold cuts. Occasionally we would shop at First National/Finast/Big Buy or at Grand Union further up Black Rock Turnpike but only if there was something good on sale. Hard to believe there were so many supermarkets in Fairfield back then. Today you have 2 Stop & Shop's and a Shop Rite. Do you remember the W.T. Grants on Black Rock Turnpike too? Jay

There's also a Whole Foods too. I miss the days of having locally-owned grocers like Mercurio's or whatever it was called. Do you remember (approximately) when Miro's closed?

[Marc Wallace]

Originally Posted by JayCT

Do you remember the W.T. Grants on Black Rock Turnpike too? Jay

I can't believe I left that one out! Of course! My mom worked @ Grants circa 1971-74? up until they closed. My sisters all worked around Ffld, too...one at the drug store across the street from Howland's on BRTpke, I want to say it was a SuperX but not quite sure...the others all worked at The Fairfield Store downtown. My maternal family came from the Tunxis Hill area, Soundview Ave..Nothing-and I mean nothing but great memories of growing up there during that time!

[bobtn]

Anyone recall a meat store on Bridgeport Ave in Milford about 45 years ago. I think it may have been called Western Beef. You went into a freezer , grabbed a number, and all the cuts hung on hooks. they were a small store, non frozen smaller than a typical 7-11.

[Lalalally]

There was a Western Beef in Brooklyn not far from where I grew up. REALLY ROUGH place LOL! Store was patrolled by guards who walked around with Neapolitan Mastiffs. Hated going there-- scared the hell out if me as a kid, but apparently the prices couldn't be beat! JK. We didn't go regularly, but did a few times, and I think more so for the novelty, because yes -- you absolutely did shop inside the freezer! -- and a big one at that too. Thanks for the memory

[bobtn]

Lalally, my aunt shopped there, and want more memories (non retail). She worked at Jenkin Valves, long torn down and now the site of the Ballpark at Harbor Yard (Bridgeport Bluefish).


And, being a small world, I now live 3 miles from another team's stadium in their league, where I'll see the Bluefish in 2 months!

[MisterStereoman]

Western Beef is still around, Staten Island and Brooklyn, to my knowledge.
Fairway in West Harlem also has a walk-in refrigerated meat room. Coats available at the door.

[MisterStereoman]

As a kid I enjoyed many a hot fudge sundae (too many!) at the Farm Shop on Rte. 1 in Branford.
(I like to give some representation to New Haven county on this site. Fairfield and Hartford seem to own 85% of it.)