From Meredith Guinness, Bridgeport Daily Voice:
It was Theresa Valentino’s 21st birthday when her mother and father opened West Side Package in Bridgeport, and she’ll be 68 when she puts the key in the lock for the final time Saturday.
The Valentino family, which has operated both the package store and neighboring Ernie’s Delicatessen for decades, is finally handing the landmark businesses in the shadow of Interstate 95 over to new owners.
“I’ll be 69 in October. I’m done. I’m tired!” said Valentino, a retired Notre Dame High School teacher who has operated the liquor store since 1997. “It’s been a 20-year course in sociology for me. I got my Ph.D.”
Full story here.
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*** If you’ve been in the West End/West Side district for any period of time from 1968 to 2016 you probably know of Ernie’s Deli or the West Side Package Store. They used to cash everyone from the neighborhood’s work check, welfare check, social sec. checks back when there was no direct deposit or computers for that matter, for two bucks! If you didn’t have a bank account or primary ID it was a godsend for neighborhood people. But if your check would bounce, “oh boy” your name would be put in Mr. Valentino’s black records book and you were done, “find somewhere else, buddy.” Customers in good standings had credit and every time you cashed your check you would pay off your bill. You didn’t see that just anywhere, especially a credit limit on sandwiches, beer and wine! And the workers were really cool down to earth people, Mr. Michael and Flo, Mike, Ernie, Teresa and some of the kids and grandkids too! And you best not get it messed up with Ms. Flo because she would curse you out and throw you out! She was loved by just about everyone who really got to know her throughout the years. I was lucky enough to have some of her Birthday Cake and sing Happy Birthday to her on her 90th B-Day! Everyone from Evergreen Apts., P.T Barnum, Twin Towers and State St. just to name a few, loves that family and looks out for them too! I maybe wrong, but I can’t remember their stores ever being robbed or burglarized the entire time they’ve been at that corner; and that was and still is a rough area! They will be missed because they were, and still are, part of the neighborhood family that stuck it out through thick and thin during the good times and the bad and always looked out for the people of Bpt. *** YOU ALL WILL BE MISSED, BUT NOT FORGOTTEN! ***
Nice job, Mojo.
*** I can’t believe after almost 50 years of serving the people of the West Side/West End and anyone else who shopped at Ernie’s and the West Side Package Store next door, the OIB blog has only gotten two comments about this wonderful Mom&Pop business that is closing its doors! This is the type of long-term Business-friendly enterprise this city doesn’t see anymore, present or coming future, big or small. WHY? ***