Flashback Friday: Former Enfield Businesses

ENFIELD, CT — Our recent discovery of old advertisements in telephone directories and high school yearbooks has prompted a number of requests to feature more of our usual Throwback Thursday column, so we now also offer Flashback Friday, giving readers two opportunities a week to reminisce about an Enfield business of the past.

Today we feature a mid-1970s yearbook ad from Crazy Joyce's Top Shop, a longtime staple of the old Enfield Mall at 25 Hazard Avenue. The store specialized in ironing decals onto T-shirts, and was known for its line of, ummm...tobacco-related products.

Joyce Rubenstein was the owner of the shop. Finding any information was a difficult task, but a longtime employee who maintained contact with her informed Patch she has passed away.

The Enfield Mall at that time was an enclosed shopping center, noted for its rather dark interior. It was Enfield's original mall, built several years before the Enfield Square, and featured Woolco and Sage Allen as anchors.

Longtime mall tenants included Jonathan's Arcade, Carvel Ice Cream, Eddie's Sporting Goods, Music Outlet and the 190 East Lounge. Beginning in the late 1970s, a flea market was held inside the mall on Sundays.

Enfield Patch invites readers to share their memories in the comments section below.

Do you have a photo of a former Enfield business or landmark? Email it to tim.jensen@patch.com and we’ll feature it in an upcoming column.