If I recall, Bailey's had two entrances, one on West Street and one on Tremont. If you entered by one of them (I forget which) there was a kind of long hallway/gallery where you could buy cards, candies, small gifts, etc. I also remember the Tiffany lamps, maroon flocked wallpaper, marble tabletops and heart backed chairs. And the ice cream sundaes in the silver dishes of course.

Bailey's was the place to get

By anon on Sun, 12/25/2016 - 8:16am.

cream cheese and olives on white bread, followed by a dish of the best chocolate chip ice cream on the planet!
And proper ladies didnt take off their white gloves while eating /

Bailey's Ice Cream---Yumm!

By mplo on Sun, 12/25/2016 - 9:13am.

I remember Bailey's Ice Cream very well. There were Bailey's Ice Cream parlors all over the Boston area, to name afew; Harvard Square, Route 9, and in downtown Boston. Their hot-fudge Sundaes.....out of this world!!

Myth and Truth about Bailey's

By Grant Young on Sun, 12/25/2016 - 5:25pm.

From Tremont St. was the long gallery with the cards, etc. The entrance on Temple Place (not West St.) opened to the candy store with the soda fountain towards the back up a couple of steps. I worked there for a bit in the late 1970s. I think there was an entrance on Winter Place as well. We used to get salesmen from Homer's Jewelry, which is another lost Boston store, for coffee, who recruited me as a messenger. Good times at near minimum wages.

When I mention I worked at Bailey's I get more stories from people who loved the place and more mythology than your average disappeared business. (Nobody remembers or cares about Homer's Jewelry.)

They made some of the candy downstairs in the basement. I also worked in the Harvard Sq. store on Brattle St. The Temple Place store was the HQ store. Harvard Sq. was busier and looser, especially nights and weekends. We could showboat making sundaes in Harvard Sq. They did not like that at Temple Place. They had stores in Wellesley, maybe Belmont, and a couple more in Boston. One on Boylston between Arlington and Berkeley and one on Franklin St.

Bailey's was definitely an old-school candy and soda fountain business that probably didn't change much from its original setup, except maybe to electrify the lighting and update the dishes. The sundae dishes were stainless steel, not silver when I worked there. Its possible that the soda glass holders were silver plate, but I wouldn't count on it. They were bought for their locations (H. Sq and Wellesley mostly), not the business itself which I think was marginally profitable near the end and so it was shutdown after the sale.

They had way more panache than Brigham's. BTW, probably the closest place I know in spirit to Bailey's is the Sundae School down on the Cape, especially the Dennis location. Same chairs and tables as Bailey's and lots of old timey soda fountain vibe.