Sturgis Pretzel Co – Portland Ave – Then and Now

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Pictured in 1975

Victor Brand Sturgis Pretzel Company – There were Sturgis Pretzel Bakeries located in Lititz, Wyomissing and West Wyomissing (the above pictured location) opened under the Sturgis Pretzel Co. name, but these were opened and ran by sons and grandsons of the original Tom Sturgis. Source


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David Procter
David Procter
4 years ago

There was a Sturgis pretzel store next to Miller’s Ice Cream on Penn Avenue in Wyomissing near to the fire hall when I was growing up there in the 1950s – 1960s. I think it was a bakery because I have faint recollections of passing by and the aroma of freshly baked pretzels would be in the air. I can’t find any record of it except this: “Several bakeries with the family name were opened by Sturgis’ sons and grandsons in Lititz, Wyomissing and West Wyomissing over the next 80 years.”

https://www.mcall.com/news/mc-xpm-2004-03-07-3520295-story.html

D. Renken
D. Renken
8 months ago
Reply to  David Procter

Yes. We used to ride up to the window of the bakery adjacent to the parking lot by Millers Store on Penn Avenue in Wyomissing, and the lady inside would give us a paper bag of “brokens” for a quarter! (1960’s)

Denny Super-Witwer
Denny Super-Witwer
4 years ago

Hi there, as a descendant of the Owner of The Sturgis Pretzel Co. in Wyomissing and West Wyomissing, I thought you might like to know that the full name of the bakery was Victor Brand Sturgis Pretzel Company. I have some photo’s on facebook of the business from our family archives. Feel free to reach out to me for more information.

David Procter
David Procter
4 years ago

Why don’t you post some of the relevant photos or a link? I don’t remember it as a luncheonette, and I went into the shop quite a few times. Maybe after I left the area in the mid-1960s? When did the shop close?

Richard Johnston
Richard Johnston
4 years ago

The Victor Sturgis Pretzel Bakery in West Wyomissing was directly across the railroad tracks from the old Schell’s drive in on Penn Avenue. As a boy my family visited Schell’s often and you could sit outside watching trains run by. And the back of the Sturgis building was right there. I believe that close by there was some sort of pedestrian bridge to cross the tracks. In the summers of 74 and 75 I worked at the Sturgis Bakery doing odd jobs and helping the baker/ machine operator. Jack Super and his wife Shirley owned/ ran the business, nice people to work for. I believe Jack’s aunt was from the Sturgis family. Jack’s father , George Super , stopped by regularly. Two local women, Kathryn and Ethel, worked daily on the line bagging or canning pretzels. There were several other employees as well. The Wyomissing Penn Avenue location was a luncheonette / pretzel outlet store.

Bernie Chelius
Bernie Chelius
6 months ago

I lived on Cleveland Ave., West Wyomissing from 1955 until 1962. We’d walk up across the train track to, a. visit the little general store because they had a pinball machine and b. to your the pretzel factory, which was really quite small, because they’d give us each a pretzel. The bridge you refer to we called the Iron Bridge and it was for cars to get from Wyomissung to West Lawn.


Berks Nostalgia