09/08/2025
Before Rinaldi’s Fashions became the familiar fixture on the corner of Alma and Nolan Streets, the spot was known simply as Bakery Corner.
And for generations of Maryborough locals, it was the heart of everyday life, a place where the smell of fresh bread and the glint of shop windows mingled with laughter, chatter, and the rhythm of a smaller, simpler town.
The bakery downstairs was a daily ritual.
Margaret Stonehouse remembered ducking out the back of the newsagents for morning tea and heading there again at lunch, often stopping by Muriel’s Salon on the way.
Mandy Kaye and Jenny Hollingworth worked the ovens and counters, and Judy Crusell recalled the warm welcome – and warm smells – when she visited Auntie Rona while her mum shopped for clothes.
For some, like Kayleen Baldwin, the memory was a little more dramatic – she was only 15 when she was hit by a car crossing the road to fetch an apple pie.
Upstairs and next door, other memories were stitched together.
The Muriel Salon, and later Circe, drew in customers with gleaming windows and perfectly dressed mannequins.
Jessica Moloney fondly remembered working there in the ’90s, arranging the window displays, sneaking in older stock that would sell the same day, and running fashion shows during street sales and Energy Breakthrough weekends.
For the older clientele, like those Muriel’s served with special frocks and bowls uniforms, it was more than a shop – it was a community.
Tom Woolman’s family history runs deep through that corner. From Doris Muriel Challacombe’s days as a milliner, to the bakery bought in her name in the 1930s, to the creation of Muriel’s Salon in the ’50s, his stories capture the life and colour of the place – from the chrome racks and fluorescent lights to “Miss Suzy” the window model.
It passed through many hands and hearts before eventually becoming part of the Rinaldi family’s legacy, a legacy that still serves Maryborough nearly 50 years on.
For others, it was the simple things – the TAB next door run by familiar faces, the big tree shading the footpath, the jewellery shop treasures, the bus depot across the way, or the coffee scrolls that Fay baked to perfection.
Not to mention the warm bread, the cream cakes, and the smell that drifted out into the street and drew people in.
Today, the corner still holds a place in Maryborough’s heart.
For those who lived it, worked it, and loved it, Bakery Corner was never just a shopfront – it was a slice of the town’s soul, layered with stories, friendships, and the kind of everyday moments that become lifelong memories.
Who else remembers pre Rinaldi's corner?
www.rinaldis.com.au
