‘Visions of sugar plums’ dance in Main St. candy shop

By Karen Donato
Staff Writer
    Take a step back in time as you enter the doors of Uncle Willy’s Candy Shoppe, the former S.L.White Drug Store. Karen Keber is the owner, along with her children, Axel, Britney and Caila.
Houlton Pioneer Times Photo/Karen Donato
OWNER’S IN THE STORE — Karen Keber is ready to meet your sweet cravings. Keber carries all the popular brands of candy new and old. Remember Teaberry gum and barley candy, or are you looking for gummie clownfish or chocolate sunflower seeds? Visit Uncle Willy’s Candy Shoppe in Houlton for just the right choice for a gift of candy.
    The Kebers moved here last February from Massachusetts right in the midst of the ongoing snowstorms and high snow-banks. Originally from New Hampshire, Keber was looking for a quiet place to raise her family. After losing her husband at a young age, she started searching the Internet for a quieter lifestyle. She found a business opportunity in Houlton and decided to make the move. The building provided a perfect set up with the living quarters above it.
    Keber and her husband had always talked about owning a candy store, so this seemed to be a great choice. The family chose the name Uncle Willy’s for her late husband, Wilhelm.
    “It has been a challenge, but we are finally open,” she said excitedly. “We’ve received 4,000 pounds of candy and more is on the way,” she remarked.
    The transformation of the store has certainly been a labor of love. Keber had to install a sprinkler system on all three floors to be in compliance with upcoming code enforcement regulations. She also intends to make some of her own candy so she needed a commercially approved cooking area. These were all extras not included in the original estimates. However, she has persevered and Uncle Willy’s Candy Shoppe is open for business.
Houlton Pioneer Times Photo/Karen Donato
SUGAR AND SPICE — Uncle Willy’s Candy Shoppe is filled from top to bottom with penny candy and more. Children will delight in looking into the candy shoppe window at all the Christmas candy decorations. This is just a hint of what is behind the glass doors and lining the shelves of the former S.L.White Drugstore.
    The main store has been freshly painted and the wooden floor brought back to its natural luster. The original gingerbread trim is still above the counter, separating the retail area from the busy kitchen and packaging area. Apothecary type glass jars line both sides of the room and are filled with every kind of candy you can think of.
    Some of the more recent confections such as gummy clownfish, chocolate covered pretzels, chocolate covered teaspoons for your coffee and pop rocks, to the old time Teaberry gum, barley candy lollipops, foil colored coins, squirrels and pink, white and green peppermints. You can select the mixture of candy you want and scoop it into a little brown paper bag, or buy a variety already packaged in cellophane and tied with a bow. Keber also carries a variety of nuts and boxes of Lindt and Ghirardelli chocolates. She has purchased as many of the popular candies from years ago, as possible.
    Keber has a great selection for stocking stuffers and just the right choice for a last-minute hostess gift. For the little ones, she carries the tiny wax bottles filled with colored syrup, or big red lips for a laugh. She has holiday cookie lollipops such as trees, Santas and snowmen, jawbreakers in all sizes and bubble gum cigars. She also carries sugar-free candy.
    For the residents of Houlton this will be a nostalgic trip back in time, when the store was originally a drugstore, with the swinging doors on each side behind the counter where you watched the druggist prepare your prescription, which was not always too tasty. Now, there probably isn’t a thing on these store shelves that doesn’t taste so good that you wouldn’t want more.
    Teen-agers, Brooke and Abby Deveau of Littleton stopped into the shop with their mother after the light parade and purchased jawbreakers and peanut butter cups. They have their eye on the Lindt reindeer for Christmas. They thought the store was awesome!
    The store was packed after the Saturday night parade and Keber said that it had been busy all day. Her son, Axel said that they had sold out of their large size peanut butter cups, but they still had chocolate and nut clusters that could be a second choice.
    The candy shoppe is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. If you would like to order a gift basket just call in your order and Keber will have it ready for you to pick up. The candy shoppe phone number is 532-3640.
    Stop in, introduce yourself, and indulge in a little chocolate. M-m-m delicious … and visions of sugarplums will be dancing in your head.