Family-run retailer Bakers Birkenstock Footprints of Chico just turned 50, and to celebrate its big birthday, the Northern California store rolled out the red carpet for longtime customers and first-time visitors with a special Sunday sales event this month.
The festivities included refreshments, a drawing for a $100 gift certificate, displays of nostalgic catalogues and other memorabilia from the store’s early years, and a quirky approach to customer discounts involving Birkenstock-branded playing cards.
“We spread the cards out on a table like a dealer would for each customer, and invited them to pick a card, any card,” explains owner Celeste Baker. “Everyone got a discount based on the card they picked—10 percent for number cards, 15 percent for face cards, 25 percent for aces, and 50 percent for a joker. People really loved that. The fact that a card room recently opened next door added to the fun.
“We had a great turnout, and we got to see lots of our favorite customers, which is just what we were hoping for,” adds Baker, explaining that the store held the event on a Sunday because parking is easier than on other days and lots of locals like to stroll the walkable, historic downtown after church.
Bakers Birkenstock of Chico (as it’s generally known) has been in the family since 1985, when Celeste’s parents, Paul and Helene Baker, bought the store from Ralph Higbee, who founded it in 1976. Celeste Baker joined the staff in 1986—the same year the Bakers opened a sister store in Paradise. Early on, both stores stocked Birkenstocks almost exclusively, but the inventory has grown to include about 20 brands as well as accessories like socks and bags. In 1999, Baker bought the stores from her mom and dad. However, the older generation is still actively involved in day-to-day operations—and was on hand for the recent birthday festivities.
“My dad’s going to be 90 this year, and he still comes in to do all the books and write the checks. My mom just turned 88, and she comes in to do my Birkenstock orders for me,” says Baker, who also credits store staffer Lori Dillard for being the business’s essential “right-hand person.”
Fans call the Chico store a local “icon” and praise its “always outstanding” customer service. Baker says repeat customers also appreciate the warm, homey ambiance. “Our store is very down home, very welcoming. We’re like one big family, and that atmosphere oozes out onto the selling floor. We’re not computerized. Instead of fancy, shiny fixtures, we have antiques and other unique pieces that we’ve acquired through the years to use for displays,” she explains. “Some of my reps say, ‘You need to update.’ But this is who we are. Our regulars don’t want us to change. They love us. People know what we’re all about, and they know what they’re going to get when they come in. If they don’t like the friendly family feeling, they’re not our customer.”
The store’s vintage vibe took pride of place in the form of Birkenstock memorabilia on display at the recent anniversary event in Chico. “There was even a newsletter from Birkenstock in the eighties saying, ‘We’re so excited to be the first people in Northern California to have a new IBM computer,’’’ says Baker. ”It was funny to see just how much things have changed over the years.”
Though many of the changes have been positive, there have been setbacks too, including the 2018 Camp Fire, which destroyed the Paradise store. Fortunately, the Bakers managed to find a new location in a different part of Paradise and reopened in late 2019. To mark the relocated retailer’s 40th birthday, Baker says plans are underway for an anniversary event to rival the one in Chico later this summer.
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