A century of tradition: Stock’s Bakery draws fans on Christmas Eve
In Port Richmond, the Philadelphia fixture for more than 100 years continued its Christmas Eve tradition, with a long line of customers waiting outside.
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Stock’s Bakery in Port Richmond, a Philadelphia fixture for more than 100 years, continued its holiday tradition, with a long line of customers waiting outside on Christmas Eve before doors opened at 7 a.m.
For New Jersey resident Lisa Holian, the journey to Stock’s is a holiday ritual. Holian grew up in Fishtown and has been visiting the bakery since she was a little girl.
“We usually come for the experience of standing in line,” she said. “You run into people you haven’t seen in a long time who are here for the same thing.”
Holian and her wife make the pilgrimage every year to buy Stock’s famous frosted pound cake and butter cake, which they gift to friends and neighbors.
“They’re really excited,” she said. “It’s meaningful when they realize you stood in line — it’s part of the tradition.”
When the bakery doors opened Tuesday, a wintry mix began to fall. Among those braving the cold was Patricia Thurber, who has been Stock’s loyalist for decades.
“I don’t even know how long I’ve been coming — forever, it feels like,” Thurber said.
Her kids urged her to skip the below-freezing wait.
“They told me, ‘Mom, don’t go,’” she said.” “‘You don’t have to stand in line,’ but I couldn’t disappoint them. They think it’s the greatest.”
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