Turn the clock back 50 years and you would find Italian bakeries aplenty in Hartford. “There were probably eight or nine on the avenue,” said Jenny Beaurivage, co-owner of Giuseppina’s Italian bakery in South Windsor. “I always had a dream of one day opening up my own.” It was a dream that, for some time, she had to shelve. “Life happened, I had kids,” said Beaurivage. “My parents became ill. I put my dream aside.”

Even so, she always kept it close to heart. She worked through her 50s at the UConn Health Center in Farmington, where she was able to retire with benefits and insurance. She found a location close to home in a plaza “perfect” to “open up a bakery.” She developed a plan and worked with her business partner, Neal Devaux, to build out the space.