Picture East Windsor - Then And Now

EAST WINDSOR, CT — Today's installment of this periodic informal series, highlighting businesses from East Windsor's past and what those locations look like today, brings us back to the 1980 edition of the East Windsor High School yearbook, The Archive. One of the sponsors that year, and for several years prior, was Uncle Paul's Stereo Shop at 89 Main Street, or as the ad said, "In the heart of downtown Broad Brook."

The shop was owned by Paul R. Anderson, and a look at the house today shows logos of some of the biggest audio manufacturers adorning the west wall: Empire, BASF, Pioneer, Dual, Akai and TDK. A sign in the front window says, "Business in rear."

Anderson, a U.S. Navy veteran, still runs a business, Systems-Consulting, in the same location. He creates websites, publishes books and helps support small businesses with technology.

In the 40-plus year old photo above, the sign in front advises, "We offer S&H Green Stamps." Sperry & Hutchinson (S&H) provided green stamps to customers at supermarkets and other retail outlets, which could be redeemed for products in a catalog or at a redemption center. If memory serves me correctly, in the 1980s there was an S&H redemption center in East Windsor near Sofia's Plaza.

Here is a 2019 view of the Broad Brook house, courtesy of Google Maps.

Do you have a photo of an old East Windsor business which no longer exists, to which you own the copyright and which we could feature in this column? Email tim.jensen@patch.com.

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