Picture Windsor Locks - Then And Now

WINDSOR LOCKS, CT — The latest installment of this pictorial history series takes us back more than 55 years - to Feb. 24, 1965, to be exact - and a look at Dexter Plaza on Main Street, at a time when it contained not one but two national retail stores: Woolworth and W.T. Grant.

One of the most successful "five and dime" stores in America, Woolworth was founded in 1879 and grew into one of the largest retail chains in the world. By the 1980s, however, competition had become too great to continue as it had, and the chain went out of business in 1997. The company was renamed Venator Group, and focused primarily on sporting goods; by 2001, the name had changed again, to Foot Locker.

W.T. Grant was founded in Lynn, Massachusetts in 1906, and grew to more than 1,200 stores before closing 70 years later. The company's bankruptcy was attributed to its policy of extending store credit to all customers, without background or credit checks.

Dexter Plaza has undergone numerous tenant changes in its history. The current occupants of the space formerly utilized by Woolworth and Grant's are Ocean State Job Lot, Auto Zone and a vacant space which most recently housed Main Street Used Furniture.

Here is a more contemporary look at the plaza, courtesy of Google Maps.

Do you have a photo of an old Windsor Locks 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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