Nardellis, Meriden

The Nardelli brothers moved from Italy to America in 1914 and in 1920 they opened their first Nardelli’s Grocery Store on South Main. During their trips to New York, they discovered that grinders were extremely popular in that area. Therefore, they decided to start selling grinders from their grocery store. The idea turned out to be successful, and soon they became "Grinder Kings of Waterbury." After the youngest Nardelli brother passed away, the store was taken over by his nephew Joe and his wife. They continued to sell quality sandwiches and were awarded "Best Grinder" in readers’ polls in CT Magazine and The Advocate. Later on, the shop expanded to 14 locations in Connecticut. In 2013 Nardelli’s Grinder Shoppe was awarded the Harold Webster Smith Award for “Small Business of the Year”.