Tweedy and Popp: Inside Scoop

We previously reported that a bucket brigade was in the offing to spirit Tweedy and Popp from the north side of 45th Street (where it has lived since 1960) to its new home-to-be in Wallingford Center. Intrigued by the idea and eager to play cub reporter, we dropped in on the dusty old hardware store Saturday afternoon to get the poop. [Ed. Note: cub reporters are generally discouraged from using the term “poop” to describe hard bitten investigative journalism.]

We were delighted to learn that it’s true, there is a plan afoot to pass some materials hand-to-hand from the old store to the new store, although, not surprisingly, not the entire inventory. Instead, the idea, as hatched by the Wallingford Chamber coterie (Molly Moon?) is to have a ceremonial spectacle, symbolically passing a handful of items over while the paparrazi flash.

We also learned the reason for the move wasn’t simply better rent, but something much more central to future of Wallingford: Costas, the owner of buildings housing Tweedy and Popp, the Rusty Pelican, Murphy’s and the “Kill My Lanlord” Dry Cleaner, has designs on a 4-story condominium complex with ground-floor retail. As a result, T & P were only offered a 3-year lease, the assumption being when the recession clears, so will these old businesses and buildings. The longer lease offered by Wallingford Center made more sense.

While we’re delighted to know that certain Tweedy and Popp merchandise will be getting the first dusting they’ve received since being shelved in the ’60s, we’re disturbed to envision changes like this coming to our dear downtown. Kara from Not A Number expressed an interest in blocking the bulldozers when they come, an idea we applaud.