Mmmmm is for Mazurek
The following is a submission from Fix Buffalo's David Torke, a guy who works tirelessly to spotlight the city's East Side. Today's spotlight is on Mazureks bakery located at 543 S Park Avenue in Buffalo (716) 853-7833:
While you went off to school, your mother would walk down to the corner and meet Mrs. Mazurek behind the counter of Mazureks bakery. The storefront entrance was filled with other Mothers and Grandmothers picking up baked goods for the week. The entire store is filled with those rich smells of fresh baked flour and sugar, butter and fruit fillings. Chit Chat passed with the cash register punctuating the goods tendered. Busy for over 73 years, today Mr. Mazureks wife proudly comments that Mr. Mazurek was born right there in the other room off of the storefront.
The entire Bakery still looks like a house that was retrofitted for commerce. Jelly rolls with powdered tops. Peanut Butter, Apple, Chocolate squares still in their baking sheets, Cheese and Fruit filled Coffee cakes and specialty items like Cherry Cheese Coffee cakes go fast, really fast. Sometimes Mr. Mazurek bakes the coffee cakes twice, once for the early birds and again for the occasional patron. His pizza rolls are filled with his special mix, yeah, homemade.
This is the experience that generations are made from, memories that reach deeply back to a right time, a good time. This is a corner bakery, but now its the only corner bakery and its starting to fade. If you enjoy sad stories sit back and close your eyes, because it will be gone soon.
The Mazuraks are looking for an apprentice. Someone willing to tutor at the side of the Master bakers, Mr. and Mrs. Mazurek. Whats the payoff? With gas prices going higher and higher, the bicycle and other human powered modes of transportation are coming back. Maybe the corner bakery can be jump started by developing the model or the historical example Mazureks Bakery. Is it a good bet, lets see, 73 years busy. Theres no other businesses left in Buffalo that can stake that claim.
The room of successful businesses is quite small. Today risks are balanced against rates of return, or return on investment. For the person who still may have that spark of knowing whats right and good about life, please do us a favor, dont think, just get over there and make some cookies. Because if you make them
Mmmm.... rye bread. Can't find anything quite like it here in Boston.
David, so glad you chose Mazurek's - our office is three blocks away, and we pretty much live on the almond/cherry/peach/apple coffee cake...they are the nicest people you could ever meet.
Ahhh. Corner bakeries. I'm not very old, and I can remember walking from my Gram's house in the Genesee/Bailey neighborhood to two German bakeries. $1/Kuchen!
But for rye bread, that was a car ride over to Walden's Bakery (near Harlem), technically in Cheektowaga. I think they're still there, and have a bakery in Lancaster now (???)
Treasure these Buffalo.
Come on, all you aspiring bakers! This is a real Buffalo treasure waiting for the right buyer! A good loaf of bread fetches $3 or more at the Co-op! You bake a good bread and you can reach markets beyond South Park Avenue!
Economic Development professionals take note -- here is a ready-made success waiting to happen if the right person is found. Go out and survey the participants in all the entrepreneurship programs from the SBDC @ Buffalo State, the BERC, the Culinary Arts/Hospitality scholarship program from the Statler Foundation, the local high schools and college graduates, get articles in the community papers --- shake the bushes and find that someone!