"We just got a big order from Cartier for rock candy, 80 pounds [36kg] for every one of their stores because they're going to put it in the windows to look like diamonds," said Jerry Cohen, Economy Candy's co-owner.
Economycandy.com's most popular product, however, is jelly-filled, chocolate-covered graham crackers. "You never had them?" Cohen said. "You're kidding." He sounded as if he really felt sorry for me. He said anyone who got even a very last-minute urge to send them as a holiday gift can call the site's toll-free number to negotiate down-to-the-wire delivery.
At Gumdroptree.com, the specialty is an unusual, old-fashioned product. Yes, it's an actual gumdrop tree. "It's a tradition that goes back at least to World War I," said Lori Tosches, the site's owner, "when people who didn't have a lot of money would actually go out to the yard and get a branch and bring it in and stick candies on it. It would be their table centerpiece or even their tree, with the gifts under it."
Californiacandy.com sells 300 products in 10 categories like chocolate (Nestle's Chunky bars, US$0.99 each), sour (227 gram bag of assorted Warheads, US$6.49) and novelty (wax fangs or lips, US$0.89 apiece).
The site sells retro boxes (US$26.95), featuring candies that had their heyday in the 1950s (Mason Crows, Skybars, Charleston Chews), the 1960s (Pixy Sticks, Razzles and Red Hots) or the 1970s (Nik-L-Nips and Chunky).
Having grown up outside Chicago, I remain a Fannie May loyalist. What child of those suburbs didn't grow up on the lore of the single downtown store founded in 1920 that spawned a chain with shops 12 states? Fanniemay.com's Web site was so easy to navigate that I effortlessly ordered three 454 gram boxes of candies and had each shipped to a different state (Meltaways for Jack, Pixies for Joe and the Colonial Assortment for Dan).
Here's what I wrote on the gift cards: "Hope this brings back happy memories."
Here's what I wanted to write: "Make time stop."
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