Dinner Break!!! Bakers Square - Blaine, MN

Who wants pie?

Well, you’re too late to get any here…

This restaurant is closed, and would torn down less than a year after I took this picture.

But here it was, when it was still open, back in September 2012.

Not very busy for a Sunday morning, usually one of the peak times for family restaurants.

(Special thanks to the Googles for these Poppin' Fresh Pies images.)

Quickest of history lessons:

The genesis of Baker’s Square began as Mrs. C's, in Des Moines, Iowa, way back in 1969. Shortly after the restaurant/bakery opened, Mrs. C’s was purchased by Pillsbury and renamed Poppin' Fresh Pies, with locations poppin’ up throughout the midwest. VICORP (who owned the chain of Village Inn restaurants) bought the Poppin' Fresh Pies franchise from Pillsbury in 1983, and renamed them Baker's Square.

I remember seeing various advertising for Poppin' Fresh Pies on TV as a kid...

The Blaine, MN, Baker's Square closed in 2020, at some point between July and October. Online Yelp Reviews suggest that Baker's Square was still open for carryout in July of 2020. Meaning they were still open during some part of the pandemic shutdown, but they wouldn't survive until the great re-opening.

I'd heard the news of its closure and decided to check it out. I also needed to go to Cheapo next door. So I chose Sunday October 18, 2020, as the day I'd see if there was anything beyond just an empty building for pictures. After picking up whatever CD I went there to buy.

Walking closer...

Glancing in the window closer to the entrance, the place still seems prepared to sell a bunch of pie.

Looks like they could come and be ready to reopen in a couple hours.

It was kind of eerie...

Around to the back window, looking toward the entrance doors on the right, and the main restaurant seating area, to the left. A big display case for pies sits between the two counters.

Various restaurant running supplies sit on the counter closest to the window.

Walking out behind the building, I found where the Sprinkler Riser sleeps.

Dumpster area with a bunch of tree branches, some decent looking shelving and various garbage that looks to still need a dumpster being there.

Sign on the back of the building.

Northeast corner of Baker's Square.

At first I thought that scarf was a dead animal, as I walked around the corner.

But when I got closer, I felt better.

Those small steps must really invite skating skateboarders.

And I love how the silhouette is wearing JNCO's...

I guess I could see that incline tempting someone to skate it, but that's hardly a place skating skateboarders are going to camp out for hours.

Unless they want pie...

Looking into that small opening at the bottom of the blinds.

Place some condiments on those tables and get ready for lunch rush!

When the name changed from Poppin Fresh Pies to Bakers Square, they used this font for their logo. (Forgive the low res-iness of it...) Which I thought looked good. I much prefer it to the same logo after a 2000's freshening up.

Just doesn't suggest bakery like the old font did.

This is too serious looking for pie.

Atriums were a building feature that Poppin' Fresh Pies and Bakers Square's tended to use in their architecture. The Blaine location had a larger one than most of their restaurants I've seen. Be it pictures or in person.

If you look closely, you may notice that this is actually two pictures combined. I had to do that since the mostly closed blinds blocked the view of the main dining area. If you could see past the pile of chairs, the restrooms would be located in a small hallway at the far end of the room. The last time I was inside the Blaine Bakers Square, the men’s restroom was filthy and sad. 

Moving over a few feet to my left, there was another narrow gap in the blinds, allowing this view.

I’m not sure exactly when they pulled the plug on this restaurant. From the looks of things inside, maybe earlier in the day? Yesterday? Last week?

Looking out across the length of the Bakers Square atrium. 

I did sit in this particular atrium booth once, back in January, 2009. My ex-girlfriend, my mom and I were coming back from the dirt mall across White Bear Avenue from Maplewood Mall. We were on our way back from checking out the then-new Beyond Shinders. (It's really too bad they didn't last...) We’d picked up several packs of 2008 Upper Deck Spectrum baseball cards, and opened them after eating lunch here that afternoon.

Those five packs of Spectrum were probably the luckiest five packs of baseball cards I've bought in 35 years of collecting.

One of them yielded an autograph of my all time favorite player.

Would've been nicer if it would have shown him with the Seattle Mariners, but I'm not complaining...

The second to last pack contained this card. A redemption for a "Mystery Celebrity Cut Autograph". No clue as to who this mystery celebrity would be, I'd just have to register it on Upper Deck's web site, then wait for it to be mailed to me.

Anticipation!

It could be anyone!

Like J.R. Ewing! 

(Or Major Nelson!)

I remember this one as well...

I'm sure Covid mercifully killed the Blaine Bakers Square. Business had been slowing for years, with the chain as a whole teetering on the verge of bankruptcy. Just doesn't make sense to keep funding a failing store, especially with the uncertainty of the 2020 shutdown. At that time, no one knew when customers would be allowed back into the place for dining in. If they came back at all. 

Yeah! Go home!

You’re too sick to eat pie!

And stay on the X!

One last look at the Baker's Square building before I go back to my car. These restaurants often had similar structural features, that made up the chain. Most of the restaurants were in the midwest, although Baker’s Square once had a decent presence on the west coast. While they weren't often identical, you could usually spot a Baker's Square building without too much variance.

Dating back to the old Poppin Fresh Pies restaurants. (Thanks Googles!)

The Blaine Baker's Square was at one point a Poppin Fresh Pies restaurant. Located across the street from the Northtown Mall, it was pretty busy in the mall's peak years. It was classier than Denny's and Embers, in the battle of exterior mall restaurants. Embers tapped out to Walgreens about 25 years ago, Baker's Square gave up in 2020, and the Northtown Mall has been slowly dying for decades. Losing a large chunk of its west end in desperation to stay relevant. Retail and family restaurants nationwide have struggled over the last 25 years, so none of this is exactly shocking.

Definitely remember this ad running heavily.

They really pushed their re-branding hard to keep loyalty.

In current times, I could keep an eye on Baker's Square's future during my infrequent visits to Cheapo, just across the parking lot. Something was happening to the building in early April 2021. I'd seen some dumpsters out front in recent weeks. When I went to Cheapo to buy a CD, I walked over to Baker's Square before going home, just to see what had been going on inside..

The next series of "looking in the window" shots, were taken April 11, 2021.

"Sorry this table is closed" sign must have fallen out of the dumpster, before it was hauled away.

I should have picked this up and kept it.

Well, it definitely looks like they're clearing anything of value out of the building.

Including the pie case!

A little pre-pre-demo...

Booths, tables and chairs are all gone from the inside. Some garbage was left behind. Looks like Baker's Square covered up their old front counter over the years. But I don't remember Baker's Square using a deep green color scheme. Wonder the this dates back to Poppin Fresh Pies decor?

Obviously not too concerned with leaving a mess behind. Looks more like vandals than construction workers were here. 

Now you pick up that ketchup!

Ransacked area behind the counter.

Looking in the same window, out into the restaurant floor, with the atrium at the end.

Opposite end of Baker's Square. The last picture was taken through the windows in the center of this photo.

You can see where booths used to sit, via the marks in the carpet. All the decorative hanging lights were gone. In case you remember them from the other picture taken from this window.

Across the empty atrium.

You may remember the photo from this window as well. The pile of chairs is gone, so you can see back to the restroom entrance I talked about earlier.

Compared to the last picture through here, this is pretty sad.

And the booth I talked about earlier with the autographed cards, used to be here.

Larry Hagman never was...

One final look out across the length of the Bakers Square atrium. 

My strongest memory of the Blaine Bakers Square barely involves Bakers Square at all. 

Laura and I moved back to Minnesota in June of 2018. I quickly found a job, but we would temporarily be living apart, at our respective parents houses. This would last until we were able to find a house of our own, four of the longest months of my life. My dad was in an advanced stage of dementia at that point, and had quit driving a few years earlier. One of the things he still enjoyed doing was riding in the car. He wouldn't say a whole lot, just enjoy the scenery.

On July 14, 2018, he suggested that we go on a drive to St. Paul that afternoon. He said there was some old industrial buildings that were being demolished. Well, that's something I'm certainly interested in seeing! With the 19 month exception of 2003-2005, I hadn't spend much time in Minnesota since leaving in 1996. Very little of that time was spent in or around St. Paul. So I didn't know the area at all. But all that meant was it was new to me, so I may be able to find some cool pictures along the way.

But there was no way…

As we approached St. Paul, my dad didn't recognize the area and didn't know where to go. Quickly figured that out when I asked him what freeway exit I should take, and he answered: "I don't know." We ended up driving through downtown, towards the airport, before I exited the freeway to turn around and go back. I'd already figured out that dad didn't know where these buildings he was thinking of were, or what year they'd actually been torn down. My new plan was to just drive around for a while and take pictures of whatever looked interesting. Dad was fine riding along, not saying much and staring out the window.

Which started when I pulled off the freeway to drive back into St. Paul. Neither of us knew which road we were on at the top of the hill. We stopped at a Holiday gas station for cold drinks and a urinal. Across the street, this old liquor store sign caught me eye...

A cool older neon monument sign implied this liquor would be sold inside a rather dated looking structure. Possibly from the 1950's or 60's. I couldn't see the building from across the street, as it was obstructed by trees and large shrubbery. So I drove up to turn around and saw this...

Well if that isn't disappointing as all hell...

Nice building Chet.

And "Brewsky"?

What are you, 19?

Okay, I have a new mission today. Finding better liquor stores than Chet's!

Let's see how many I can find...

Circling back for my second pass of downtown St. Paul.

Exiting the freeway and taking a picture of Sears, when it was still open. This is the same now abandoned Sears, that I wrote about last September. When I wrote that story, I didn't realize that I'd taken a picture of it while it was still open. It definitely would have been included if I'd remembered it.

Not far from Sears is a McDonald's dressed up like a 1960's era bank.

I've since taken Laura to some appointments at this Health Partners Specialty Clinic. Only I hadn't yet done that when we drove by it, on this day. After I took this picture, I took another 20 or so, which offered no real identifying markers to clue me in on the route we took. Dad had nothing to offer in the form of directions, other than agreeing with whatever turns I suggested.

Look, a Liquor store that's better than Chet's!

Looks like this much older building missed the gentrification bulldozer. With new development going up on all sides, the owners must be taking in enough to resist the buyouts. Wish I could have gotten a better picture. I like the roof on this one. Plus there's a classic Pabst Blue Ribbon sign out front.

Whoopsie!

Not a liquor store, but a car wash, with an awesome RC Cola sign...

ENHANCE!

After more aimless driving around, I found us on Arcade Street. I have fond memories of video arcades, so I might as well stay on this road for a while. I have no idea where we are, and dad doesn't either.

The Walfoort Liquor Store, with a cool light up arrow sign.

I like the massive framework required to hold the sign in place. 

Not a liquor store, but a bar counts. I guess... This one has a classic Hamm's Beer sign above the Arcade Bar & Liquors sign. That framed patch of multi-colored bricks doesn't really fit the rest of this building at all. I've always wondered what it would be like to live in one of the apartments above a business like this. Doesn't matter what city, I just think it would have been cool.

Here's a big stone church, so you can atone for all the drinking you do in St. Paul.

Speaking of St. Paul...

There it is again, on the horizon at the end of Arcade Street.

Liquor, porno and antiques!

A really old SuperAmerica gas station. We didn't stop here, because they would have likely been out of anything we wanted to buy, because it's SuperAmerica. More interesting is the old  J.H. Allen & Co Wholesale Grocers and Manufacturing painted signs on the building behind. Can't make out the red sign at the top center of the red building. Looks like 10 Cigar, or something...

Past Kat-Key's Safe & Lock and Locksmith's, there is Gopher Liquors. Definitely better than Chet's... If you're Kat-Key's neighbor, you totally beat Chet's ass!

Getting into downtown St. Paul, passing Alary's Bar.

Not a liquor store, so it's only differently better than Chet's...

Unfortunately blurry photo of Mickey's Dining Car.

The Xcel Energy Center.

Where the Wild (hockey) Things Are...

Twin Cities PBS. Where Laura used to work.

From here, we left downtown St. Paul. I picked a road that I didn't know, and got on it. It looked interesting and was heading north. That made the most sense in getting back to Coon Rapids. My co-pilot agreed with my navigation breakthrough via silence.

That's a really impressive mural painted on the south wall of the Phoenix Market.

Quick glance and aim the camera as I drove by. First thought that it was a nice abandoned building, after looking at the pictures, it's probably not. After some more weaving around residential areas, I found my way to White Bear Avenue. Taking this road to the north will eventually bring us to the freeway, which is where I want to go. Not sure how far away it is, so we'll see what there is along the way!

The next thing baffled me.

It's a sliver of the front of a house, with no actual house behind it. 

A window is even open!

What is going on here?

An awfully small Food Planet. More of a Food Satellite? Food Meteorite?

You'd think the House of Clocks would look a little more welcoming...

Pretty old modern library...

Another liquor store! I don't know this for certain, but Hillcrest Liquor sure looks like it was once a Tom Thumb. The Domino's Pizza on the opposite end is another clue. Tom Thumbs were usually found in a 2-3 store cluster. One of which was almost always a pizza delivery shop.

And don't snooze on the Bakery Outlet!

I didn't know it at the time, but this Pizza Man is housed in what used the be a Clark's Submarine Sandwich shop. Just thought it was a nice, run-down looking building, and Pizza Man makes a quality pizza! A few years later, when I wrote the tribute to Clark's Submarine Sandwich, I found this building while looking up all of the old Clark's addresses. Another photo I could have used in a story, had I known I'd taken it before...

Wow! Rainbow Foods still has an open location on White Bear Avenue! 

I was almost tempted to run in and buy something...

(Maybe a 12 pack of pop, pretzels, Skor bars, Cheetos, and Jalapeno Poppers... Just $40 worth of empty calories...)

This stupid car got perfectly in the way of my drive by picture. It would have made for a great shot of an abandoned round building, we passed driving up White Bear Ave. If you look closely, there's a car blocked label scar on the front, but I can't make it out. (Oh, it was last known as a Bremer Bank. Thanks Googles!) This style of building was popular with the old Midwest Federal chain of banks, that went up around town in the early 1960's. A few of them are still around, and some of them are still banks! None of them are Midwest Federal anymore though...

I also can't go back and simply take a new picture of this place, since it was demolished in favor of a Pantera Bread.

Did you really need to do that Pantera? Couldn't you just sell overpriced soup in a semi-historic round building? Always destroying cool stuff in favor of you bland contemporary architecture... You just wait until your stepfather comes home, Pantera!

Look, it's Maplewood Mall...

I've only been inside here once. It was awful. 

Let us never speak of that day again.

Just north of that place was the intersection of White Bear Avenue and I-694. From here I'd take the freeway back to Crapids. I also stopped taking pictures since there wasn't anything to really bother with along that route. Starting back up with a few photos along County Road 10, through Mounds View and Spring Lake Park, and finally back into Blaine.

Including a shot of the doomed Jimbo's Italian-American Restaurant.

But I'll cover that some other time.

On the freeway coming back from St. Paul, my dad suddenly perked up and said that we should go have ice cream. In later years, that became a thing he really liked to do. Whenever he was done riding around the state with my mom, he always wanted to stop and get ice cream. As we got closer to the Northtown Mall, he suggested we go to Baker's Square for ice cream.

"I assure you, we are open!"

It was about 3pm on a Sunday afternoon. There were zero customers at the Blaine Bakers Square, when we went inside. A few people showed up while we were eating. He was happy with a simple bowl of vanilla ice cream, and I had a slice of Coconut Cream Pie. My dad said very little while we were inside Baker's Square. When we were done eating, we drove home. He was napping in the car at times during the St. Paul wandering, so I knew he was tired.

Snapped a couple pictures of renovation progress at the abandoned Blaine KMarts on the way back...

Later, I asked my mom if dad enjoyed the day. Since he said so little, I figured he was unhappy for some reason. She explained that was just how he was now. He likes to look out the window and see things as you drive. Even though he wont say much, he's enjoying himself. 

The last few years, she'd told me how he was slowly sliding downhill, drifting in and out of he world around him. Living in Denver, I wasn't around to witness the decline in his cognitive abilities, in person. I'd been prepared to see this, but this afternoon it really sunk in. 

Poppin' Fresh Pies Menu

This would be a lot cooler if you could read it...

(Thanks anyways Googles!)

Geez Poppin' Fresh, could you make a creepier commercial about pie?

Late in the afternoon of June 21, 2021, Laura sent me a text saying the Blaine Baker's Square was being demolished. She took a few pictures (I have yet to see those pictures) and I made plans to leave early for work the next day, to see it for myself.

I stood on the island in the road, taking multiple pictures from this spot. I wanted one that included the sign, crumpled up restaurant and shovel in mid debris-drop into the dumpster. This one has a nice cloud of dust dropping from the shovel full of restaurant. Love this photo!

Parked the car in front of Cheapo (so I could go in and look for some music afterwards) and walked up to the security fence around the property. The wooden part of the structure had already been toppled, with just the cinderblock back walls standing. 

Walking around to the back of the building. 

Wonder if they started back here and then changed their minds to do the front part first? Interesting shovel-chew marks on the left side.

Wide shot, to include the already removed pavement with earth-waffling texture pounded into it.

Whole lotta earth-waffling going on...

This caught my eye as soon as I glanced at the back of the building. The shadows cast by some of the hanging letters are really cool! Do wish the photo was clearer. It's such a great shot and it kinda looks like garbage.

The security fence ended as you walked behind the restaurant. The south and east ends had no fencing, making this gate almost hilariously pointless. It's always easier to take pictures when you don't have a fence to contend with. Reaching over with the camera, you can't see what you're shooting. Shooting through the fence can be tricky in not getting the chain covering a corner of the picture.

So that's what was behind the little fenced off area, on the southeast corner of Bakers Square!

Wider shot of broken wood removal.

And rounding the corner...

And an even wider shot...

And here's the Scorpions...

The main doors of Baker's Square would have been on the left side of this picture.

Under the collapsed entrance with the address numbers still visible. As far as I can tell, that folded up sheet of aluminum out front was once part of the atrium window coverings. Looks to be painted those colors, with several decades of sun bleaching inside the edges.

And an even wider shot...

I took these pictures of Bakers Square’s demolition on June 22, 2021. My dad passed away four days later. I’m not saying there’s a connection or even a coincidence here. Just two separate things that happened. Timing of which is kind of interesting to me.

One last look through the chain link security fence before I'm off on my merry way. Deciding to include a part of the fence itself to put a nice stamp on the photo. I liked the look at the bare walls, offering clues as to what used to be here. Just before those walls are pushed down. 

With them, another piece of the Northtown Mall area is gone. Of course retail areas are almost always in a state of flux. Over the past 20 years, as shopping habits have drastically changed, this kind of turnover is inevitable. Other than it just being here for as long as it was, and the few memories I've covered here, I wont miss it. By default, it became a classic part of the Northdale Mall retail area. Now that changes, like all the others before it. Embers, The theater, the Wards auto shop, Wards, TGI Fridays and whatever the other names were in what was once the Bombay Bicycle Club. That was the name of it the only time I was inside, so that's what I knew it as.

Watching Bakers Square go just brought a few of those stories to mind. 

Covid definitely accelerated this. In a way, the pandemic led to a sort of market correction in underperforming and redundant retail. Right or wrong, if there isn't a need for so many similar chains and franchises, they need to shrink, or go away altogether. The last couple of years have shown that there's simply going to be less of this stuff, it just didn't come back. 

Oh look, one usage of the old logo on a sign behind the building, survived even longer than the restaurant itself!

*******

A few months after the Baker's Square restaurant was demolished, a Chase Bank went up on the lot. Because there was one thing this stretch of road desperately needed, and that's more banks! That US Bank across the street, and that TCF Bank at the end of the block, just isn't nearly enough!

Although the similar placement of their monument sign, in relation to the building, was a nice callback to the Baker's Square. 

Well done Chase!

******

What did you order?

It's rice pu'LAUGH!

Pee-LOFF?

No, pu'LAUGH!

Looks like a bowl of maggots...

HEEEEEEEEEEEY!!! I think I saw one move!

(That's not funny to anyone but me...)

Thanks to Tracy for the cartoon from 32+ years ago... We're old!