Picture Enfield - Then And Now

ENFIELD, CT — For today's installment of this periodic Enfield history series, courtesy of the Facebook group Picture Enfield, we revisit Slaybard's Package Store, a fixture for decades at 466 Enfield Street. According to Enfield land records, the structure was built in 1946.

Originally owned and operated by Leonard Slaybard, each Christmas season in the 1940s and 1950s he erected a larger-than-life display of Santa in his sled with all the reindeer lit up, according to Patch reader Patty Hirtle. Thomas Madej, who lived next door to the store, said he remembers a front lawn at the business.

According to ancestry.com, Leonard Slaybard was born in Thompsonville in 1918, and died in 1972. He is buried in Saint Adalbert Cemetery, according to findagrave.com.

A quick search of amazon.com yielded a label for Colony Hills Reserve whiskey, marked "Blended and Bottled for Slaybard's Inc. "Fine Wines and Liquors" Thompsonville, Conn." which contains a handwritten note, "approved 6-8-53."

A complete list of owners and years is not available, but from 1961 to 1971, the store was owned and operated by Michael and Angela Liucci. John C. Gallerani was the owner in the early 1980s, and James DeCarlo took over in 1987 and operated the store for more than a decade.

Slaybard's closed in 1999, and in 2000, Smoker's Discount World opened in that location and remains there today.

Here is a more contemporary photo of the site, courtesy of the Enfield Town Assessor's office.

Do you own a non-copyrighted photo of a former Enfield business or landmark? Email it to tim.jensen@patch.com and we may feature it in an upcoming column.