ELITE SHOES and Bowser’s were familiar stores to anyone who frequented downtown Wakefield in the 1940s and 1950s. When this photo was taken in 1939, Elite Shoes was on the corner of Main Street and Mechanic Street (now Princess Street). Next door, a woman can be seen in the photo window shopping at Bowsers, an apparel store. To the right of Bowsers was Carroll Cut Rate Perfumers. The doorway in between Bowswers and Carroll led to the Wakefield House, an upstairs rooming house that exists to this day. A sign on the side of the building points to “Ma’s Lunch.”
