Maine
These 5 unique Maine candy stores are a real treat
If you’ve got a sweet tooth in Maine, you’re in luck. There’s a whole lot of candy to be had.
From artisanal chocolates and saltwater taffy to mass-produced products like Nerds and Haribo gummies, there’s a bounty of treats to taste and some pretty neat stores to explore.
We unwrap the details on five unique shops, from York to Round Pond, and share the sweet reasons why you should hop on the candy trail.
Orrin Smith 7, of Angier, North Carolina, picks candy as he fills a bag at Sweetz & More. Shawn Patrick Ouellette/Staff Photographer
MORE IS MORE
Sweetz & More opened in Wiscasset last year, in the space that was previously occupied by Big Al’s. It’s the first Maine location of a New Hampshire-based chain of five stores.
The place is enormous and, in fact, just might be the largest candy store in New England. The amount of candy, including chocolate, saltwater taffy, bulk candies, jelly beans, licorice, retro candy and a trove of other items, is mind-boggling.
Store manager Heather Barter said some of the bestsellers are Atomic fireballs and Nerds Gummy Clusters.
Sweetz & More also has its own freeze-drying equipment and sells bags of freeze-dried Skittles, Nerd Clusters and several other candies. A popular choice is freeze-dried, cotton-candy-flavored saltwater taffy. Barter said that freeze-drying renders the candy airy, making it not as hard and chewy.
Sweetz also makes several varieties of fudge in house and has an ice cream counter.
LIKE A ROCK
Originally called Hines Hall, the two-story Round Pond house that’s now home to Granite Hall Store was built in 1873. In the early 1900s, it was known as Fossett’s, a place to get ice cream and penny candy that shuttered in 1960.
Granite Hall Store owner Sarah Herndon poses by some of the candy. Photo by Aimsel Ponti
It’s changed hands a few times through the years, and when Eric and Sarah Herndon bought it in 1983, the previous owner suggested that they didn’t bother keeping the penny candy. But the couple thought better of that.
“The candy brings people here,” said Sarah Herndon, who has run the store with the help of her daughters, granddaughters and seasonal workers since her husband died in 2012.
Granite Hall Store sells plenty of other items, including housewares, Irish woolens, candles, toys and cards. The candy, however, is perhaps the most eye-catching offering, some of it displayed in old apothecary jars. Herndon said that Goetze’s Old-Fashioned Caramel Creams are a hot seller, as are Haribo gummy raspberries.
Candy displayed in an antique case at the Way Way Store in Saco. Photo by Aimsel Ponti
TIME WARP
When Peter and Bridget Scontras took over the Way Way Store in 2011, their plan was to run it for two years. Thirteen years later, they’re having so much fun, they have no plans to leave.
The Way Way Store, built by the Cousens family, opened in 1916 in a barn.
The current building was constructed with concrete blocks in the late 1920s. It closed in 2003 but was reopened eight years later by the Scontrases.
Gummy candies of all stripes are popular at the shop. “Any shape or size, you want,” Peter Scontras said.
He also said traditional candies like Necco Wafers and rock candy do well.
Peter Scontras at The Way Way Store in Saco. Photo by Aimsel Ponti
One thing you won’t find there, however, is candy or bubblegum cigarettes. “We don’t to get into the cigarette culture,” Scontras said.
The first thing you’ll hear when you walk into the Way Way Store is old-time bluegrass music, which adds to the charm of the place. Then you’ll be surrounded by candy, some of which is displayed in a glass case that’s more than 120 years old.
There’s a box that small children use as a step stool so they can see into the case. Peter says that he hears from adult customers that they remember standing on it when they were young.
The Way Way Store stocks a vast array of throwback candy, like Mary Janes, Chuckles, Sky Bar candy bars and Mallo Cups, wax bottles and multiple flavors of Tootsie Rolls.
You’ll also find plenty of contemporary goodies that are popular with kids, including Icee Squeeze candy, Toxic Waste sour candy and Rip Rolls.
The Way Way Store was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1995.
In April of 2023, CBS News visited the shop for a story about preserving small-town general stores.
Lenny the chocoloate moose at Len Libby Candies in Scarborough. Photo by Christine Lyall
STUNNING VISUAL
There are many reasons to visit Len Libby Candies in Scarborough. Its massive inventory of chocolate comes in every form, including chocolate-covered blueberries, pebbles and seashells made out of chocolate, peanut butter cups, and dozens of other chocolate-centric delights.
The shop’s bestseller is Bangor Taffy, a rich, buttery caramel covered in confectioner’s sugar. It was originally sold on the Bangor-to-Boston passenger train back in the early 1900s, and it was the customers who gave the sweet its name.
Other popular items are Lemon Zest Bark and Needhams. Len Libby Needhams do not include potatoes as an ingredient. Raw coconuts are cracked open by hand with a machete, drained, and shredded into a pulp.
Len Libby also carries a line of Maine maple sweets, including maple sugar leaves, maple walnut bark and maple drops.
But the most whimsical reason that people flock to Len Libby Candies is not to get the latest gummy, bag of saltwater taffy, or package of licorice.
They want to see Lenny, the 1,700-pound milk chocolate moose. Lenny has been standing proud as a centerpiece of the shop since 1997, complete with a white chocolate pond.
The Candy Corner in York.
IMPASTABLY SWEET
The Candy Corner in York was opened in 1981 by Agnes and Johnny Biagioni and their daughter, Janie. The shop is affectionately or, if you will, confectionately referred to by locals as Johnny’s Candy Corner.
Aisles of penny candy and several cases of chocolate and other goodies fill the store.
Agnes said that Candy Corner’s bestsellers are the hand-dipped turtle chocolates and homemade fudge.
Chocolate ravioli at The Candy Corner in York. Courtesy photo
The other confection that Agnes said they can barely keep in stock is its chocolate ravioli. Available in milk, dark and white chocolate, the “pasta” is filled with caramel, raspberry and peanut butter. Agnes said that, as far as she knows, the Candy Corner is the only shop in Maine making chocolate in the shape of pasta.
The Candy Corner also carries a big line of taffy, which Agnes said comes from a company called Taffy Town. The pieces are individually wrapped and are nut- and gluten-free. The taffy is sold by the pound, or you can buy a box that features the Nubble Lighthouse.
Agnes said she’s allergic to nuts, making some of the store’s offerings off-limits to her, but she does have a personal favorite that she makes an exception for, in small amounts: “The peanut butter cups are to die for.” She’s also a huge fan of the shop’s chocolate fudge.