Oh, what sticky-sweet nostalgia!
Walk through the door of Sticky’s Candy and you are taking a stroll back in time, though for many of the new sweet shop’s clientele, so young are they that nostalgia is a feeling that only happens to other people.
Sticky’s Candy is located at 20464 Fraser Hwy., in the one-way section that is full of nostalgia, if only for old-timers to recall what stores were previously located there.
Sticky’s is run by Robin and Beverly Burnette who opened the Langley City store on March 1, one year after opening the first Sticky’s in Chilliwack. A third shop will open in Maple Ridge on March 1, 2013.
With a shaky economy, there’s no better time to open a sweet shop.
“It’s a growing business,” said Robin Burnette. “People always have $5 to $10 for a feel-good treat.”
He understands that for so many of his customers, the majority of whom are females in the 13 to 90 age bracket, the store brings back many memories, good memories, especially when the economy is struggling.
In the centre of the store are three racks loaded with ‘retro’ candy such as flying saucers, Jolly Rancher, various bubblegum, Hello Kitty and Air Heads, and in the corner near the back of the store are retro lunch boxes, $12.99 reproductions made in the U.S.
Take your time. The assortment of choices is dizzying. Along the wall on the right hand side are 50 different flavours of salt water taffy, made by Taffy Town, the oldest taffy manufacturer in the world, Burnette says.
Costing quite a bit less than you would pay at the cinema, there are theatre boxes stuffed with Runts, Starburst, Bottle Caps Dots, Skillets, Hot Tamales, Angry Birds and so on.
In a cooler at the back is a selection of Pop Shoppe flavours, and UK-made cans of cherry cola and vanilla cola.
There are gummy candies from Europe, licorice from the Netherlands, candy rocks and candy corn, cola balls (known as ball bearings in the UK), and lots of sugar-free confection in a section of its own.
Down the left hand side are three displays: red and yellow for chocolate bars and other candy made in Canada and the U.S., and green for a large number of bars and packets made in the UK.
There are many flavours of bon bons from Britain, including toffee, strawberry, lemon, cherry, and apple.
Burnette explains the little-known difference between a bar of chocolate made in North America, and the same brand imported from Britain.
It’s all in the wax. Canadian candy bars contain eight per cent wax, those in from the US four percent, while those from the UK contain none. The absence of wax makes for a richter treat, hence the higher price for an imported Mars or Crunchie bar.
They also contain pure cocoa and whole milk, he added.
“That is why they are so much better.”
