PROSPECT — Walking into Prospect Dairy Bar is like taking a step back in time.
A Coca-Cola ad from 1945 hangs on the wall between the main counter and the dairy bar. Models of antique cars and planes hang from the ceiling. There’s an old jukebox in the corner of the restaurant, and the milkshake mixer dates back to when the restaurant on New Haven Road opened 67 years ago.
But, times have changed. After nearly seven decades Prospect Dairy Bar will close on Nov. 27.
“The restaurant has been basically this way for 67 years,” said Carol Jones, who bought the restaurant from Olive and Vincent Visockis in 1984. “They did breakfast, I do breakfast. They would make homemade soups, I would do homemade soups and meatloaves and we cook the roast turkeys.
“Now it doesn’t seem like the crowd of people we have are looking for things like that. It seems like they want burgers and hot dogs, things to get in and out. The society has got so much faster than it used to be.”
Olive and Vincent Visockis opened Prospect Dairy Bar and owned a dairy farm along New Haven Road. Carol Jones, 69, and her husband, John Jones, 71, moved to Prospect in 1971. They regularly went to the restaurant where they got to know the Visockis family before taking over the restaurant.
Over the years, Carol Jones said she’s talked to thousands of customers and served generations of families. She calls the dairy bar a second town hall because of all the repeat town customers.
On a recent afternoon, customers filled up several booths, chatting as they ate their lunch.
Kathy Khan, 65, of Naugatuck said the variety of food is good and fresh, and she’ll miss the waffles and strawberries.
Bob Brown, 68, of Waterbury said he’s been going to the restaurant since he was in high school.
“It’s like going to your mother’s for lunch,” Brown said. “There are not many places like this anymore.”
Carol Jones believes people don’t have as much time as they once did. She thinks the biggest change in the town over the years is how fast the pace of life has gotten.
“The biggest thing that hurt the business is when Dunkin’ Donuts went in because now people could drive up to a window and not get out of their car,” she said. “Society is busier and they don’t have the time to walk into a restaurant and get something that would probably, in my impression, be better than what they’re getting there. We cook everything from scratch.”
Although the Prospect Dairy Bar will close, the restaurant will stay in the family. Carol Jones said she plans to sell the restaurant to her son, David Jones, who is going to open another restaurant.
Carol Jones believes the restaurant made her a better person because she listened to many people who had a lot on their minds. She said people were upset once they found out about the restaurant closing, and some even told her they were going to make it a historical landmark so she couldn’t close.
Carol Jones got emotional when thinking about the all the years at the restaurant. She said she’s going to miss the contact with people the most and thanked them for being loyal customers. She said everyone is welcome to stop by the last two days the restaurant is open — Nov. 26 and Nov. 27 — to say goodbye.
“I think it’s the nostalgia for what people will miss the most,” she said. “I’m looking forward to being home after all these years.”
