World's Largest Dairy Store
Norwalk, Connecticut
We don't recommend Stew Leonard's World's Largest Dairy Store as an attraction to plan your whole vacation around. On a weekend jaunt taking in the Sing Sing Museum, Hartsdale Pet Cemetery and Holy Land USA, Stew's would be an okay snack stop if it weren't so crowded.
The parking lot is jammed full of irritable and angry drivers jockeying SUVs for the few empty spaces. It's the kind of crowd usually reserved for warehouse club shopping before Christmas.
Large letters on the side of the building proclaim this is indeed the "World's Largest Dairy Store."
Inside, Stew's reminds us of specialty groceries and farm markets in other regions, sucking in the Soccer Moms with succulent produce displays. Is there more of a draw here than a reputation for really good pies?
Yes. Stew's special entertainment is spread along the crowded grocery continuum. See milk packaged in the glass-enclosed dairy laboratory. Ahead is an animatronic band of cartoon milk cartons. Every few minutes they launch into cheery song. The "Farm Fresh Five" are strategically positioned above the refrigerated food displays. Shoppers, peeved we have stopped in the middle of the aisle to watch the show, gently nudge with their carts. We move on.
Like any good tourist trap, Stew's is set up so you can only move in one direction, past every item, before you reach the exit. More animatronic scenes perform above the mad fray. Stalks of broccoli and carrots sing. A cow's head pokes out of a barn near the bread section; kids know that if you pull on her bell she'll Mooo and tell a cow joke.
That's about it. On your way out past the cash registers, there's a wall covered with snapshots of people all over the world brandishing bags from Stew Leonard's. Since there are only three stores, you have to admire the unnamed promotional genius who started this silly tradition.