The Mr. Local History project is working with the public to identify lost businesses in Westfield, New Jersey. We have a new history game going on now for those who grew up in Westfield (Click Here), but here, the Mr. Local History project is trying to gather ALL the old local businesses that are no longer in Westfield, New Jersey.
An interesting look at the data tells us two things: where the businesses were and what type of businesses they were. As our list grows, it will be interesting to see what types of businesses that Westfield has lost. Retail tops the categories right now, while apparel stores and auto dealerships aren’t close behind. See the chart below.
You can view our real-time updated table and chart, along with the entire list below (thanks to Google Sheets).
If you know any of the “HELP TELL US,” we’d love your help in the comments section at the bottom of this post.
Use the scrollbars at the bottom and right to move around the embedded sheet.
Our efforts tried hard to identify lost businesses by the type. Summarizing the numbers is an interesting look at what the residents wanted and which turned over the most.
The data does speak for itself. Such turnover comes with some interesting analysis. Dining, sweets, and household take the top three, but it’s interesting to see auto dealerships, women’s apparel, and haircare turnover top the list.
The chart tells the story about Westfeld’s downtown area, typically including East Broad, Central Avenue, Elm Street, Quimby Street, Prospect Street, and North and South Avenues. It is interesting where the turnover was highest.
Here’s our list by Business Name and Type of story so far. Which do you miss most? Post in the comments below if we’re missing any good ones!
Use the above scrollbars on the bottom and the right to move around the embedded sheet.
Missing any businesses you loved? Post in the comments section below. Name/Type/Street/Years in Business (Approximate)
Comments are at the bottom of this post.
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The Town Lunch -- luncheonette - Broad St (site of Vicki's Diner)
Savani Imports, Indian Import store for saree fabric, insense, hookahs, brass items. 1970s. North Ave. Westfield
Ralph's Amoco was on South Ave next to the train station. I think it is now a BP also had a repair shop which was converted into a car wash. Ralph owned it for approximately 26 years.
1. Garden Botanika (corner of Elm and Broad Street)- retail store similar to Bath & Body Works
2. Express (where Warby Parker is now)- apparel store
3. Talbots (North Ave next to Limani)- apparel store
4. ESPRIT (East Broad St where Yestercades is now)- apparel store
Poppyfields
116 Elm Street
11 years in that location
Kids furniture & gifts
Westfield Sweet Shoppe. 219 East Broad Street. Served Breakfast , lunch and dinner. Homemade ice cream and candy.
Could that also have been Candy Kitchen? or also known as New York Candy Kitchen and Soda Fountain? Was near Baron's Drug Store as well. Said was open from 1904 to 1970.
New Norris North Ave. Car dealer
The Elephants Trunk. East Broad Street. Personalized gifts
Douglass Central Ave Cosmetics, makeup
melinda lane!!!! where they would sell sugar lips and "butter" sweatshirts. defining store for my middle school fridays downtown. Was on Elmer St by USPS.
also! bath junkie, 221 N Ave E. another core middle school memory where you could make custom body mists and lotions and stuff.
The Golden Egg on Elm Street from the late 80s early 90s. A children's clothing and items boutique.
Also I don't know about anyone else but this page is really difficult to navigate. I could not see a list in it's entirety so don't know if this store is already on it.
This is a google sheet embedded into the story as updates are made live to the data, thus making updates to the web automatic. There are schroll bars on the right and at the bottom of the embedded sheet. There are also other views in that sheet that show graphs as well. On a phone it might be more difficult, but it's a great way to share updates in real time.