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We have an Italian bakery in our suburb, and there is a Portuguese one in the town nearby. Plus we are about 30 mins from NYC where there are still a bunch.
I love accidentally catching the aroma of our local bakery.
Chain grocery bakery departments do little if any "real" baking on site - instead, they heat up frozen products, most of which contain soy, a cheap extender to which an increasing number of people, including me, are developing serious allergies. If I ingest more than a tiny amount of soy products, I suffer an anaphylactic reaction a few hours later. I watch ingredient lists like a hawk these days.
Correct. I worked at a major chain and everything was trucked in frozen and just popped in the oven overnight. The exception were the donuts which were made on site. The "baker" was just a part time kid making $9 an hour.
I apprenticed with a French guy for yrs then opened a french bakery, ran it for 20 yrs and sold out, went into a cafe and catering until retiring recently.
I live in a declining Rust Belt town with a population of about 16k and there is one independent bakery. It's been there for almost 50 years. Lucky for me, it's only three doors away. It's run by a guy in his seventies, so I'm not sure it'll be around much longer.
When I moved here in the early 90s, there were three other bakeries, but all eventually closed. Part of the reason was the introduction of a Walmart on the outskirts of town, but another cause was the fact that since I moved here, almost half the town... left town.
Walmart baked goods are pretty bad, in my opinion. The frosting is like wax and the cookies have the consistency of clay. Makes me kinda sad to think of the young people who think baked goods are supposed to taste that way because they've never had anything else.
Location: St Thomas, USVI - Seattle, WA - Gulf Coast, TX
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jlawrence01
In the early 70s, my grandfather owned a large florist shop in a Midwestern city. I told him that I wanted to take over the shop when I grew up. His response: "no you don't. Kroger's is putting a floral department into all of its stores. When that happens, the ONLY work that the independents will get is funeral and weddings. There are three florists on this street. In fifteen years, they will ALL be gone."
He was correct. That was LONG before the internet and proflowers.com and the like. It was long before even Kroger's had the floral department rolled out. And it was before the demise of the funeral industry.
Most bakeries are gone. The supermarkets produce a lower quality product but they can afford to price it at a price that the local shops cannot. It is hard for me to justify spending $1 for a very mediocre donut like Dunkin Donuts when I can go in and get an OK donut at Kroger's for $0.59.
What Mainebrokerman did not mention is the proliferation of quasi-bakeries like Panera Bread, Paradise Bakery, Cosi, Corner Bakery, and the like who can prepare pretty decent pastries and bread at a competitive price.
Personally, I can see why many bakeries close. It is 3rd shift work and unless you really have a great location, it is hard to get the volume that you need to make a decent living, It is a tough living and one that leads to a lot of drinking (from my experiences).
This, exactly, hits all of the nails on the head, perfectly.
The Walmart reference in another post is also perfect. As a whole, "we" (society, culture...) have decided to accept lower quality and less personal character/diversity in favor of lower prices and greater conveniences. It's a very big temptation, and I'm certainly not immune to it either, but it is disappointing, nonetheless.
I am happy to see the creative centers of cities (someone mentioned Charleston, I can speak for Seattle, as well) reviving artisan shops of all kinds. As jlawrence perfectly said, unfortunately, those busy and more affluent locations are the only ones who can make a go of it. Small-town hardware stores with knowledgable, personal service have nearly all closed in favor of Lowe's and Home Depot. Artisan bakeries have nearly all closed in favor of grocery store bakery departments with pre-par-baked, frozen-then-thawed goods.
Remember what fresh donuts tasted like?? Not the ones that have been fried, frozen, and reheated in the oven at the grocery stores (and NOT the mass-produced DD). I grew up with a great little, in-town bakery. I remember the owner/baker trying to engage me (a tiny, shy kiddo) in conversation while handing me the BEST maple bars ever. Man, what a difference! But, we vote with our dollars, and we all have a million things that we'd like to save those dollars for. It's tough.
Many of the supermarkets and large retailers try to staff their departments with the former employees of the smaller bakeries in town.
When Walmart opened in the town I used to live in, they hired the supervisor of the bakery as their bakery manager. She received a $3 per hour raise and medical benefits, both items that she had asked from her previous employer.
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Are the cupcake and bundt cake places really doing that well? Or is that fad finally ending??
Remember what fresh donuts tasted like?? Not the ones that have been fried, frozen, and reheated in the oven at the grocery stores (and NOT the mass-produced DD). I grew up with a great little, in-town bakery. I remember the owner/baker trying to engage me (a tiny, shy kiddo) in conversation while handing me the BEST maple bars ever. Man, what a difference! But, we vote with our dollars, and we all have a million things that we'd like to save those dollars for. It's tough.
In all fairness, here in Tucson, I have tried five or six local independent doughnut places. They are absolutely terrible. One place served doughnuts that would break your foot if you dropped them. One place advertises vegetable doughnuts ... just to find that they are fried in vegetable oil. They too were terrible. That is why I drop into the Kroger's (Fry's) for a doughnut or a bagel once in a while.
While I would like to see scratch baking, I would rather have a place like Panera charge me $3.50/ loaf for bread baked in the store than head to Sprouts and buy FROZEN rye bread shipped in from who knows where. And I do mean that the bread on the shelf was as hard as a rock frozen.
Location: Finally the house is done and we are in Port St. Lucie!
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Would love to have a German bakery near me. I do miss going to a bakery and seeing the different breads. And the aromas.... heaven.
A supermarket just isn't the same. Our small business are disappearing and that is a shame. All being squeezed out by big business.
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