As Balducci’s prepares to close — leaving behind many devoted customers, and other Westporters who think the store just randomly put laughably high prices on every item — it’s time to look back at its predecessor.
Balducci’s began as Hay Day. Westport’s first “gourmet grocery store” was located where the Maserati dealer is now.
The “country farm market” was stocked with fresh produce, baked goods, prepared food and the like. Paul Newman was a regular customer.
Longtime Westporters still have — and use — the very well-done “Hay Day Country Market Cookbook.”
(“250 recipes from the celebrated New England farm stand that helped bring authentic flavorful food back to America’s table,” the cover gushed.)
Hay Day expanded a couple of times, then moved to bigger digs in its present location a few hundred yards east. The site was occupied in the 1980s by Georgie Peorgie’s, Arnie Kaye’s ice cream parlor adjacent to his Arnie’s Place video game arcade.
Balducci’s — a small specialty chain, now owned by the much larger Albertson’s group — eventually bought Hay Day.
There is no word yet on a new tenant.
Let’s hope it’s an interesting one. A bank or nail salon would not do this place justice.
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(Photo/Matt Murray)
Dan, You haven’t posted the For Rent or For Sale signs up and down the Post Road in a long while. I remember it was 60+ once. Hopefully, this doesn’t become one!
I loved Hayday when it was in the original location. You could go and try samples of all kinds of treats. Free hot cider in the fall. Beautiful flowers and the prices were reasonable. It was always a pleasure to shop there.
Then they moved to the new location and by then I had moved to Cape Cod.
Coming home to visit we went to the new place and found it had changed. My friend from the Dominican Republic felt very uncomfortable there and waited in the car for me. He felt snubbed by snooty rich ladies…No samples, everything was more expensive and I never went back.
I loved Hay Day, having found it soon after moving to Westport. We arrived here from Philadelphia where we were weekly visitors to the Italian Market, streets and streets of open air market with all manner of produce, spice shops, butchers, tea and coffee bean vendors. Hay Day eased the transition so well. And I was thrilled to find a copy of the famous cookbook one year at the Pequot Library Book Sale.
And now you can find them on Thriftbooks or Abebooks.
Hay Day was also in Ridgefield and Greenwich. Miss them!
But do you remember what business was at the original Hay Day location prior to Hay Day?
Sonny’s Car Wash!
Bingo Brad!! The late great Sal “Sonny” DeMattio…
A cafe, I think … can’t recall the name
Hay Day is where I first took Chef Pietro Scotti’s cooking classes! So lucky I married that great humble chef and warm hearted man!
It was often a thrill to be standing next to Paul Newman feeling the peaches for ripeness. The store would be dead quiet while he did his shopping, then erupt in, “Did you see him?” from everyone all at once, as soon as he walked out the door.