I didn’t have to deal with it much in my work, I primarily worked in automotive and sometimes sporting goods. My business with the layaway department usually meant walking a bicycle over. Do stores even do layaway anymore?

I mention it because in doing some research on Chapman Highway I came across a curiosity. I’ve never heard the term “lay-by” used instead of layaway, but it was a thing. And I never expected to see layaway, lay-by, rent-to-own or any other form of payment plan used in the same breath as fruitcake. But it was a thing. And back in the 40s and 50s, they ran in the ballpark of $1 a pound When I was in college from the mid to late 80s, I worked at the Kmart on Clinton Highway. One of the more popular services at the store was the layaway department, where customers could put items in storage in the store with a down payment and make payments until the goods were paid off and released. It was most heavily used for buying Christmas presents, and there was always a long line pay off and pick up in the days leading up to the holiday.

To be sure, the Kern’s fruitcake was full of “delectable goodness” from a recipe over 70 years old. And that was 60 years ago. The things were so popular, they were shipped to soldiers during WWII. In August 1945, in the immediate wake of the bombings of Nagasaki and Hiroshima, Japan, Kern’s Bakery announced it would be shipping a four-pound fruitcake each week for 11 weeks to a different crew member of the B-29 Superfortress dubbed “The City of Knoxville.” Commanded by 1st Lt. James W. Walker of New Market (who also suggested the name), the big bomber had already completed 19 missions in the Pacific by the time the fruitcake order came through.

And the cakes weren’t just available at Kern’s Bakery on Chapman Highway (which began operations in 1932), there was hardly a grocer in Knox County that didn’t have Kern’s products on the shelves. The move to the new facility doubled production, producing 75,000 loaves of bread a day before you even consider the process of making fruitcakes. Another expansion on site in 1953 expanded production further.

Looking into the fruitcake phenomena also got me looking into things I had forgotten. It’s lovely that the Kern’s Food Hall has holiday themed activities planned for every Wednesday and weekend through Dec. 21. Because when I was a kid just driving by the bakery at Christmas time was cause to ooh and aah. There was always a fabulous display on the lawn, Santa’s Workshop being a big hit. There was a manger scene, and sleigh with reindeer and a Santa that stood on the roof. It wasn’t as much a holiday staple for me as it was for anyone who grew up in South Knoxville after Kern’s opened up shop.

The history of Chapman Highway will have to wait for another day.

Beth Kinnane writes a history feature for KnoxTNToday.com. It’s published each Tuesday and is one of our best-read features.

Sources: The Knoxville Journal digital archives, McClung Digital Collection-Knox County Library

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