New Grocery Store Opens In Historic Downtown West Haven Building

Written by Michael P. Walsh

WEST HAVEN, CT — Mayor Dorinda Borer cut a blue ribbon with La Antillana Meat & Produce owner Eduard Tejeda and his business partner, Nelson Chalas, to celebrate the grand opening of the Latin American grocery store Thursday at 519 Campbell Ave., the former longtime home of Silver’s Drug Shop.

The new market sells fresh meats, fruits and vegetables, as well as traditional groceries. It is located in the historic Wood Building at the northeast corner of Campbell Avenue and Main Street, downtown’s busiest intersection, across from City Hall.

La Antillana is open seven days a week and owned and operated by the Tejeda family.

The afternoon ceremony featured welcoming remarks by Borer and was attended by city Economic Development Commission Vice Chair Elinor Slomba and member Frederick Brown and former Councilman Victor M. Borras.

Also marking the event were Tejeda family members and employees and Simon McDonald, the director of membership and marketing at the Milford Regional Chamber of Commerce.

The Wood Building is historically known as The A.F. and J.P. Wood Building and is architecturally significant.

One of West Haven’s earliest 20th-century commercial buildings, the 1911 English Jacobean-style structure housed Wood’s Drugstore before Silver’s was founded by pharmacist William H. Silver in 1919. The drugstore, a beloved city institution, was owned and operated by the Silver family until 2006.

The old-world building has anchored the downtown business district for 113 years and counting.

Pictured: La Antillana Meat & Produce owner Eduard Tejeda cuts the ribbon with West Haven Mayor Dorinda Borer, center, and his business partner, Nelson Chalas, behind Borer, to celebrate the grand opening of the Latin American grocery store Thursday at 519 Campbell Ave., the former longtime home of Silver’s Drug Shop. With them are, from left, West Haven Economic Development Commission member Frederick Brown, former Councilman Victor M. Borras, Tejeda family members and employees, commission Vice Chair Elinor Slomba, and Simon McDonald, the director of membership and marketing at the Milford Regional Chamber of Commerce. (City Photo/Michael P. Walsh)