05/27/2023
Federal Bakers will conclude its long history this week. All products will be 90% off. The Store will be open Tuesday from 10-5:00 PM and then open at 8:00 AM Wednesday until the final curtain falls at 1:00 PM sharp.
As I have thought about this day, one thing is clear, it is the employees and customers that make any business. These are the relationships that endure.
When Federal Bakers was on Genesee St., in a building physically built by my grandfather and his dad, ladies would come in and ask if they could purchase smaller quantities of our products. My great grandfather, Ludwig, would help out by taking a 30 # case of walnuts, for example, and "weighing them up" into 6/5 # bags. This was the genesis of what we have always referred to as "The Store."
When we moved to Scajaquada St. in 1969, a permanent sales counter was installed and my father appropriated my babysitter, Mary Bowditch, to be the first full time Store employee. About 1974, Burglars started a fire to cover their tracks and burned out the offices and Store. Fortuitously a fire door leading to the warehouse did its job and stopped the further spread. These were the days when all the "weigh ups" were tied from a big roll of string around a paper bag and there was an entire aisle of wedding cake toppers. After graduating from cleaning the bathrooms, cutting the grass, and burning the trash in the incinerator, I started to work in the weigh up room. I am proud to say that my sons, niece, and other cousins worked in the Store at some point as well.
We built a new building on William St. in 1979 and from there we will cease to be on Wednesday. Next week I will post information regarding the sale of our freezers, fixtures, and furniture, but today, it is about the wonderful people I have had the genuine pleasure of knowing and working with in "The Store."
They include Mary Bowditch, Arlotta Hora, Marie Romano, Florence Clabeaux, Terrie Prime, Denise Hawrysiak, David Orlowski and John Duraj (in the weigh up room), Andrew Lazik, Mary Jane Liberatore, Starr Worley and Will Nance. Finally, for most of the last 25 years, Brown Sugar and our matchless managing mastermind, 6X.
Thank you, customers, and below are some photos of what remains of our inventory. KP
