Mayfair grocery in Bakersfield

Uh...California.

Moderator: Groceteria

Post Reply
Carolinewrites
Member
Posts: 3
Joined: 04 Aug 2020 17:14

Mayfair grocery in Bakersfield

Post by Carolinewrites »

I am writing a book and am looking to verify if there was a Mayfield grocery in Bakersfield in the mid-1960's. Also, did the Mayfield chain have bakeries for custom cakes at that time? I want my book to be as accurate as possible.

Carolinewrites
User avatar
Andrew T.
Veteran
Posts: 689
Joined: 18 Oct 2007 14:26
Location: Minnesota's attic, Canada
Contact:

Re: Mayfair grocery in Bakersfield

Post by Andrew T. »

Carolinewrites wrote: 07 Aug 2020 17:53 I am writing a book and am looking to verify if there was a Mayfield grocery in Bakersfield in the mid-1960's. Also, did the Mayfield chain have bakeries for custom cakes at that time? I want my book to be as accurate as possible.

Carolinewrites
According to the location page for Bakersfield, there were no fewer than 8 Mayfair stores operating there as of 1965.
I'm less sure about the history of their service operations; maybe someone else can chime in here. These photos of a 1960s Los Angeles store clearly show a full-service bakery, so I imagine most of the Bakersfield stores (which were all fairly new and modern for their time) did as well.
"The pale pastels which have been featured in most food stores during the past 20 years are no longer in tune with the mood of the 1970s."
Andrew Turnbull
klkla
Veteran
Posts: 364
Joined: 29 Jun 2006 18:39

Re: Mayfair grocery in Bakersfield

Post by klkla »

Carolinewrites wrote: 07 Aug 2020 17:53 I am writing a book and am looking to verify if there was a Mayfield grocery in Bakersfield in the mid-1960's. Also, did the Mayfield chain have bakeries for custom cakes at that time? I want my book to be as accurate as possible.

Carolinewrites
Your subject says Mayfair but your text says Mayfield.

I've never heard of Mayfield markets but Mayfair definitely had a presence in Bakersfield. Most of their stores did not have bakeries. The few that did were leased departments and not operated by the chain.
Carolinewrites
Member
Posts: 3
Joined: 04 Aug 2020 17:14

Re: Mayfair grocery in Bakersfield

Post by Carolinewrites »

Thank you! I think I made a typo with the Mayfair part! One of my characters has a connection to a bakery in a Bakersfield grocery store in the early to mid-1960's. I can go with Safeway, which appears there were plenty, but the Mayfair store was more appealing for my plot. Am I to assume that the Safeway stores at that time had bakeries...like somewhat custom birthday cakes.?

Thank you so very much for any input!

Caroline
Carolinewrites
Member
Posts: 3
Joined: 04 Aug 2020 17:14

Re: Mayfair grocery in Bakersfield

Post by Carolinewrites »

Andrew T. wrote: 07 Aug 2020 18:10
Carolinewrites wrote: 07 Aug 2020 17:53 I am writing a book and am looking to verify if there was a Mayfield grocery in Bakersfield in the mid-1960's. Also, did the Mayfield chain have bakeries for custom cakes at that time? I want my book to be as accurate as possible.

Carolinewrites
According to the location page for Bakersfield, there were no fewer than 8 Mayfair stores operating there as of 1965.
I'm less sure about the history of their service operations; maybe someone else can chime in here. These photos of a 1960s Los Angeles store clearly show a full-service bakery, so I imagine most of the Bakersfield stores (which were all fairly new and modern for their time) did as well.
The look of the store would work well in my story and I am trying to keep it as accurate as possible. Thank you for the response, very helpful. Did Safeway stores have a bakery where customers could order a birthday cake and such? Mayfair is more interesting but if I have to use Safeway, I will!
User avatar
Andrew T.
Veteran
Posts: 689
Joined: 18 Oct 2007 14:26
Location: Minnesota's attic, Canada
Contact:

Re: Mayfair grocery in Bakersfield

Post by Andrew T. »

Here's something that might be helpful for reference! An actual Safeway cake order form:
safewaybakery.jpg
This is from Canada Safeway in the 1990s, but the form is surely chainwide and dates to the 1970s.

The late 1970s is also the earliest I can imagine Safeway widely offering services like these: They're a large company that tended to follow trends rather than set them, and Safeway didn't start opening larger-format "super stores" with multiple service departments until then. For a 1960s plot, Mayfair or other smaller, regional chains would be more plausible.
"The pale pastels which have been featured in most food stores during the past 20 years are no longer in tune with the mood of the 1970s."
Andrew Turnbull
klkla
Veteran
Posts: 364
Joined: 29 Jun 2006 18:39

Re: Mayfair grocery in Bakersfield

Post by klkla »

Andrew T. wrote: 07 Aug 2020 18:10 According to the location page for Bakersfield, there were no fewer than 8 Mayfair stores operating there as of 1965.
I'm less sure about the history of their service operations; maybe someone else can chime in here. These photos of a 1960s Los Angeles store clearly show a full-service bakery, so I imagine most of the Bakersfield stores (which were all fairly new and modern for their time) did as well.
The link for the 60's store is the Century City Mayfair which was a very unique store in a master planned community and not typical of the chain. Likewise, the store at Franklin & Bronson was unique and also had a bakery. But that was very rare for Mayfair. Their stores were almost always 100% self-service.
Post Reply