FEBRUARY 24 • 2022 | 15
Stacy Fox relies on her
longtime employee Marilyn
Wolton of Oak Park, associated
with Star Bakery since 1960.
The only child of Polish
Holocaust survivors Joyce and
Henry “Chaim” Abramowitz,
Wolton was born in a displaced
persons camp in Germany.
She remembered when her
father, owner of a shoe repair
shop on Coolidge, told 14-year-
old Marilyn to “find a job, but
you’re not working for me.”
Down the street, former Star
Bakery owner Gene Klein hired
her, and “two years later, I was
the bookkeeper.”
Wolton worked less at
the bakery while raising her
children, Rodney and Nicole,
with husband, Ron “The
Banker” Wolton. She returned
to full-time employment when
Nicole entered sixth grade.
The new job title was “trouble
shooter,” requiring Wolton to
train sales workers at Star’s
former chain of four bakeries.
Now serving customers
behind the counter, Wolton
said she’s pleased to see Fox’s
innovations after so many
years of “nothing changing”
under previous owners. Wolton
assists with Star Bakery’s
new rewards program that
lets interested customers
accumulate points from their
purchases toward a future
discount.
find at an Israeli bakery.
Alfajoreses features layers
of creamy dulce de leche
spread between two thin
shortbread cookies, the
edges rolled in powdered
sugar.
Many of the additional
menu items that intrigue
Fox — “I would love to
make my mother’s apple
kugel. I want to add hot
soup” — will have to wait
until she can hire more
help, particularly bakers.
Star Bakery currently has
20 employees ranging from
high school age to senior
citizens, Around 10 work at
Diamond Bakery.
“We hire employees for
their attitude, then we’ll
train them,” she said. At
work daily, Fox takes pride in personally
preparing the dough used for rugelach,
mandelbread and more. When her bakers
arrive at 4 a.m., the baked goods they
make will include babkas, turnovers and
cookies, including Marty’s-style chocolate
chip. Bakers on the 4 p.m. shift produce
bread only.
Operations and the décor are more in
hand at Star Bakery, which
Fox has managed since
summer. A “Breakfast
Special” at Star is $3.99 for
a cup of Great Lakes Coffee
Co. coffee with a Danish-
style pastry. “We also want
to have thick slices of
challah toast smeared with
butter and cinnamon sugar,”
she said.
Below the front windows
at Star is a long, weathered
wood pew that came from
an old synagogue in Detroit.
Fox plans to put up pictures
of old Jewish bakeries and
vintage baking utensils. The
most notable change in the
bakery is a menu mural
on the black-painted back
wall. Designer Izzy Fox, a
creative advertising major
at Michigan State University (her parents’
alma mater), beautifully hand-painted the
colorful words. She will be repeating the
project this spring at Diamond Bakery. As
Stacy Fox updates the décor at Diamond,
to “shlep it into the 21st century,” she
expressed appreciation for the efforts
of Michael, her “Jewish husband with a
toolbelt. He can fix anything.”
Marilyn
Wolton
All-Star
Marilyn Wolton
Star Bakery
26031 Coolidge
Highway
Oak Park, MI 48237
Phone: (248) 541-9450
www.thestarbakery.com
Hours: 6 a.m.-6 p.m.
weekdays; 6 a.m.-3 p.m.
weekends
Diamond
Bakery
6722 Orchard Lake Road
West Bloomfield, MI
48322
Phone: (248) 626-2212
www.diamondbakery.net
Hours: 6 a.m.-3 p.m.
Tuesday-Sunday
Stacy Fox, Marilyn Wolton
and the baking crew.