Tag Archives: Sport Mart

Friday Flashback #376

Posted on December 8, 2023 | 4 comments

Among the many great elements of last Saturday’s “06880”/Westport Downtown Association Holiday Stroll: the decorations.

Main Street and Church Lane look especially festive this year. with lights, wreaths, trees and more, everywhere you look.

Many Westporters have fond memories of downtown decorations from years past too.

But not in 1975.

As noted in a Friday Flashback 6 years ago, on Christmas Day that year Fred Cantor drove through town. He captured several scenes. Here is one:

Snow had fallen earlier. The plowed, shoveled and congealed streets and sidewalks have that bleak midwinter look.

There’s nary a star, ornament or whimsical Santa on any pole. You don’t see any twinkling lights either.

The only wreaths are on Sport Mart (far left).

But the view of the Mobil station (now Vineyard Vines) brings back fond memories. Every year — a few days before Christmas — owners Gene and Mary Hallowell lowered the hydraulic lifts. They covered them with table cloths. Then they laid out a feast.

The party was supposed to be for loyal customers. But anyone could wander by for food and (of course) drink.

And everyone did.

Further down Main Street, Fred found this:

The Remarkable Book Shop hummed with activity at holiday time. It was the perfect place for gifts — there were toys, puzzles and trinkets, plus a joyfully eclectic collection of books, maps and whatnot — as well as a great spot for curling up in an easy chair to read, relax or just people-watch.

But the Remarkable Book Shop did not go all out with holiday decorations either. In fact, as Fred’s photo shows, in 1975 there were none.

One place did get into the holiday spirit.

And with good reason: The Corner Spirit Shop — on Wilton Road, at the Post Road West intersection — was one of the most visible spots in town.

Plus — then, as now — a liquor store hops at holiday time.

So of course they threw a couple of wreaths on their windows.

That’s what Westport looked like, 48 years ago this holiday season.

The Sport Mart is gone. Remarkable, too. And the building that housed the Corner Spirit Shop is one more fond memory.

Just like some of those Christmas decorations of yore.

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50 years ago this week:

WWPT-FM — the Staples High School radio station that was “flat broke last weekend” — raised over $3,600 in a multi-day fundraising marathon.

Among the personalities attending a fundraising party at the home of WWPT staff member Larry Perlstein: popular WNBC DJ Wolfman Jack.

(If you enjoy our weekly “Friday Flashback” — or any other “06880” feature — please click here to support our work. Thank you!)

 

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Friday Flashback #354

Posted on June 30, 2023 | 25 comments

Main Street today looks much the same as it did over 40 years ago.

The architecture, anyway.

But — as Susan Garment’s undated (but late ’70s/early ’80s-looking) photo shows — the retail environment is very different.

The 4 stores shown here — Sport Mart, an unidentified one next to it, Waldenbooks and Dorain’s Pharmacy — are all long gone.

Sport Mart started out in Sconset Square (then called Sherwood Square) in the 1950s. It moved to Main Street, where it expanded to the 2nd floor. Dan Coughlin’s shop was the go-to place for tennis and ski gear. (Westport’s other sports store, Schaefer’s on Main Street, specialized in shoes, baseball gloves and the like.)

Waldenbooks was one of 3 book stores on Main Street in that era. Remarkable Book Shop was midway through its 30-year run on the corner by Parker Harding Plaza (more recently Talbots and then Local to Market). Across the street from Remarkable sat Atticus Bookstore Café (an affiliate of the New Haven original).

Waldenbooks was Westport’s first chain bookstore. (They declared bankruptcy in 2011, long after the Main Street spot closed.) It was supplanted by Barnes & Noble, which opened first on the Post Road where BevMax is now. Its second, larger location was a bit further west, in the old Waldbaum’s supermarket. (Waldbaum’s declared bankruptcy in 2015.) Barnes & Noble is now located in a smaller space on the Post Road — the longtime Fine Arts Theater (and later, Restoration Hardware).

As for Dorain’s: For decades, it was a family owned drug store. (One of 2 downtown; Achorn’s was up the street, near — briefly — Atticus.) When the business sold, it became Westport’s CVS. They soon outgrew the space, and moved to Compo Shopping Center, into the former McLellan’s.

But not everything has changed. The shop in between Sport Mart and Waldenbooks looks like a women’s clothing store.

I’m just sayin’…

(If you enjoy our Flashbacks every Friday, please consider an “06880” contribution. Just click here — and thank you!)

25 Comments

Posted in Downtown, Friday Flashback, Local business

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Friday Flashback #278

Posted on January 7, 2022 | 20 comments

The other day, Steve Baldwin uploaded a treasure trove of photos to Facebook.

Taken in December 1967 — more than 50 years ago — they show a downtown that is both substantially different from, yet basically the same, as today.

The Post Road (aka State Street)/Main Street intersection shown below included Muriel’s Trolley Diner (underneath the traffic light), a smoke shop, and a row of wooden buildings that later burned to the ground. We also see a car turning into what was apparently 2-way traffic on Taylor Place.

The handsome building on the right — more obscured today — was the Westport Public Library. In front was a public park, taken over around that time by young people hanging out, playing guitars and (according to lore) selling and using drugs — hence the nickname “Needle Park.” Today that downtown oasis — meant to be open space in perpetuity — has been smothered in concrete.

This shot, looking north on Main Street, includes Welch’s — one of 3 hardware stores on the block — and, beyond the 3-story building, Greenberg’s. Within no more than a year or two of this photo, that decades-old store selling things like needles and thread closed. It was a victim of a roof collapse after a heavy snow, and changing tastes in retail.

Check out the traffic light in the middle of Main Street.

A few yards further north, we see Charles Food Store (one of 2 grocery markets on Main Street), and just beyond it, Sport Mart (before its 2nd floor was built). Although these photos were taken in December, the only Christmas decorations seem to be a few wreaths on Sport Mart.

Note the 2-way traffic on Main Street, too.

This view of Main Street, looking south, includes Klein’s department store — later Banana Republic — on the left  before its 2nd story was added on.

Thanks, Steve Baldwin, for these photos. Note to “06880” readers: We’re always looking for Friday Flashback images. If you’ve got good ones, please email dwoog@optonline.net.

20 Comments

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Friday Flashback #250

Posted on June 25, 2021 | 12 comments

So many Westport businesses start out in one place, then end up another.

From Earth Animal and Calico (very recently) to Mitchell’s (now at its third site) and (Viva Zapata (original location: Post Road near the current Playhouse Square), even the most established establishments have wanderlust.

Generations of Westporters remember Sport Mart on Main Street. Before that though, it was in Sconset Square. (The shopping plaza was then called by the much more normal local name “Sherwood Square.”)

(Photo courtesy of Paul Ehrismann)

After moving a few hundred yards west in the 1960s, the old Sport Mart became many things.

But the first place where Westporters once bought tennis racquets, skis and other sports equipment has returned to its roots.

Today it once again serves athletes of all abilities.

These days, it’s Fleet Feet.

12 Comments

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Friday Flashback #70

Posted on December 15, 2017 | 17 comments

Last week’s “06880” story about downtown holiday decorations drew plenty of comments. Many readers recalled with fondness the ghosts of Christmases past. Main Street, they remembered, was alive with lights and garlands. It was a bright, magical winter wonderland.

That may have been true. But not in 1975.

On Christmas Day that year, Fred Cantor drove through town. He captured several scenes. The other day — sparked by the nostalgic debate — he unearthed those photos.

Snow had fallen earlier. The plowed, shoveled and congealed streets and sidewalks have that bleak midwinter look.

There’s nary a star, ornament or whimsical Santa on any pole. You don’t see any twinkling lights either.

The only wreaths are on Sport Mart (far left).

But the view of the Mobil station (now Vineyard Vines) brings back fond memories. Every year — a few days before Christmas — owners Gene and Mary Hallowell lowered the hydraulic lifts. They covered them with table cloths. Then they laid out a feast.

The party was supposed to be for loyal customers. But anyone could wander by for food and (of course) drink.

And everyone did.

Further down Main Street, Fred found this:

The Remarkable Book Shop hummed with activity at holiday time. It was the perfect place for gifts — there were toys, puzzles and trinkets, plus a joyfully eclectic collection of books, maps and whatnot — as well as a great spot for curling up in an easy chair to read, relax or just people-watch.

But the Remarkable Book Shop did not go all out with holiday decorations either. In fact, as Fred’s photo shows, in 1975 there were none.

One place did get into the holiday spirit.

And with good reason: The Corner Spirit Shop — on Wilton Road, at the Post Road West intersection — was one of the most visible spots in town.

Plus — then, as now — a liquor store hops at holiday time.

So of course they threw a couple of wreaths on their windows.

That’s what Westport looked like, 42 years ago this holiday season.

The Sport Mart is gone. Remarkable, too. And — as of a few weeks ago — the building that housed the Corner Spirit Shop is only a fond memory.

Just like some of those Christmas decorations of yore.

17 Comments

Posted in Downtown, Friday Flashback, Local business

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