Picture South Windsor - Then And Now

SOUTH WINDSOR, CT — The time has arrived to once again delve into an amazing picture book entitled Images of America: South Windsor, compiled in 2017 by Claire Lobdell for the Wood Memorial Library & Museum. The book, containing 128 pages of fascinating photos from the town's history, is available for purchase at the library's museum store here.

Page 77 delivers us to the Sunny Side Supermarket on Sullivan Ave., in the late 1940s or early 1950s. Owned by Frank and Helen Petraitis, the store was renowned for its butcher shop, where Frank made his own sausage. As evidenced by the sign above the door, the store carried Mucke's meat products; Mucke's was a Hartford-based meat processing business which produced hot dogs, kielbasa and deli meats beginning in 1919.

According to the book, penny candy was also a popular item at Sunny Side. As one of the few businesses open on Sundays, children came in droves to buy candy after church.

Note the telephone booth outside the doorway. Anyone under 30 will have no clue what that is.

No specific address is given for the store; the book merely states, "across from what is now Geissler's Plaza." Therefore, we present a contemporary look at the general area, courtesy of Google Maps, in hopes that a reader can pinpoint the exact spot. One suggestion is that the store was near the curve, where Sullivan shifts from heading east to south.

Do you have a photo of an old South Windsor business which no longer exists, to which you own the rights and which we could feature in this column? Email tim.jensen@patch.com.

To register for free South Windsor breaking news alerts and more, click here.