SHREWSBURY – For over 50 years, from the 1930s until the mid-1980s, Mattero’s Bakery was a favorite stop in Shrewsbury for baked goods. The bakery was so popular that, even today, older residents still fondly recall several favorites: the lemon squares, chocolate covered and jelly doughnuts, Italian bread, and of course, the pizza!
The bakery was owned by Joseph and Angelina Mattero, who started the business in the 1920s out of a garage located on Lyons Street in Worcester. In 1927, the bakery building was sold to the Gentile family, whose bakery is still in operation to this day. Mattero’s Bakery moved to Shrewsbury, operating out of a small stone building owned by the Garganigo family on Route 9, just west of what would soon become a landmark business throughout New England―the discount department store Spag’s. In fact, the Matteros would sometimes watch over Spag’s store if he needed to run an errand.
By the mid-1930s, the bakery had moved to what would be its permanent home at 101 Boston Turnpike. The bakery was located on the first floor of the building shown in the photograph, with the family living upstairs. This photograph, dated to 1942 by the movie posters in the window, shows Frank Mattero, one of eight children who helped run the bakery, and his friend Michael D’Errico with their bicycles in front of the bakery.
