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| Vintage Postcard |
Just as Faroh's was the choice of the locals in neighboring Lorain, the Candy Shop – located in the South Shore Shopping Center – was the hometown favorite for many Vermilionites.
Apparently chocolate had long been the Zahars’ family business through the ages. According to the DiscoverOurTown.com website, “eight generations of the family have made chocolate, for the last 34 years at the shop in Vermilion.”
The caption for the vintage postcard shown at the top of this post reads, “A popular tourist attraction creating International Award Winning Chocolates as one of our specialties. Shown here is our “Big Dipper”. Young and old alike are fascinated by this “Chocolate Waterfall” which drenches our various centers with luxurious real milk or dark chocolate.”
But chocolate wasn’t the only draw for the store.
President Ronald Reagan’s penchant for Jelly Belly created a huge demand for “the original gourmet jelly bean" in candy stores across the country. As Tom Zahars noted in an article in the April 3, 1981 Elyria Chronicle-Telegram, “The amount of Jelly Belly sold since President Reagan’s inauguration has been astounding.”
“We were lucky and anticipated their popularity but we’re still surprised at the way sales have been going. The last time we put a call in to the manufacturer, we were told there’d be a wait of 3-12 weeks for orders. We understand that they’re working around the clock, trying to keep up with the demand.”
The article also noted, "Zahars has 18 feet of shelving in the Candy Store devoted to nothing but the Jelly Belly. Most people buy the mixed variety. However there are customers who have specialized tastes.”
“I think,” said Zahars, “that the people who try Jelly Belly like them because they are a top quality, good candy. They’ll go on eating them even if the president stops. Things will probably slow down a bit as far as sales go but the Jelly Belly is definitely here to stay.”
The Candy Shop disappeared from the Lorain Phone book listings beginning with the 2005 edition.
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Here are some vintage Candy Shop ads, including a full page Easter-themed one with photos of their operations from the late 1980s, culled from various online newspaper archive sources. |
| June 15, 1982 Chronicle-Telegram ad |
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| March 15, 1986 Sandusky Register ad |
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| April 5, 1987 Chronicle-Telegram ad |
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| December 12, 1993 Chronicle-Telegram ad |
3 comments:
We used to go around the holidays to get their homemade popcorn balls. Many times we went they couldn’t keep up so we would wait and do things around Vermilion then go back later and pick up our order.
loved that store!
I grew up in Elyria and for many years when I was a kid our family would make a trip to The Candy Shop to load up on Easter candy. We'd each get solid chocolate eggs with our names written in icing. I loved the gummi fruit slices too. Strangely, I don't remember Jelly Belly, but I do remember Zahars had the best jelly beans that had a more 'natural' fruit flavor than typical jelly beans. Then we'd get lunch to-go from somewhere and (weather permitting) eat it down by the lighthouse. Then we'd finish it off with a visit to the Lakeview Park Easter Basket on the way home.
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