By Gloria Austin
Staff Writer
HOULTON — Uncle Willy’s Candy Shoppe at 60 Main St. in Houlton is not closing … not just yet anyway.
“We are selling the building,” said Karen Sutton, owner of Uncle Willy’s. “We eventually will be relocating the store, but we expect that to take a long time to happen.”
Sutton said that when the transition happens, customers will have plenty of notice. So, this season, keep the sugar plums dancing in your head.
“We are staying as we are,” she added. “We are not scaling back. We are not closing our doors and walking away. We would not do that.”
DOORS ARE OPEN — Britney Keber, left, along with her mother, Karen and step-father Matt Sutton operate Uncle Willy’s Candy Shoppe at 60 Main St. in Houlton. Despite rumors, the candy shoppe’s doors are open for business.
Her husband and business partner Matt added, “We respect the town too much and we respect our client base way too much to do such a thing.”
The Suttons do plan to relocate to Virginia since Matt is retiring from the Border Patrol after 25 years.
“I will be helping my lovely wife run the family business,” he said. “We are just looking to get somewhere a tad bit warmer.”
But in today’s economic market, there is no telling when the sale of real estate will go through.
“When we sell the property we have on Court Street and this building, we will relocate, but we are fully anticipating it to take six to eight months at the minimum,” said Matt. “It could take two years for all we know, “ added Karen.
Uncle Willy’s candy store has been operating for five years, opening in November 2008 and just recently has added a new item to its web site, a shopping cart.
“We have an online presence established now and our web site manager is in the process of putting the finishing touches for online sales,” Matt explained. “In the past, before shopping cart was offered, people contacted the shop via e-mail and we filled orders and shipped it out to them. Now, through the shopping cart, they will be able to do it directly.”
Now, does this sound like a business who would just close the doors tomorrow?
“What we have heard from a variety of people coming in and asking and people asking us on the street is if we are in imminent danger of closing within the next couple of weeks or prior to Christmas,” explained Matt. “Nothing could be farther from the truth.
“And right up until that point, where [the properties] are sold and we are packed, those doors are going to be open,” he added. “In addition to that, all verified gift certificates we have sold in the past and sell in the future and even this Christmas season will be honored. That is a 100 percent guarantee.”
An option to keep Uncle Willy’s doors open in the Shiretown is for someone to contact the Suttons about buying the business.
“If the shoppe was bought, everything would remain as it is. We will sell it as a turn-key business, stock and all included,” said Matt. “And, we would be willing to stay on and train the new owners on how to make the candy [a family recipe] to ordering inventory,” Karen added.
In addition to the shoppe, the building comes with two apartments.
“If someone is not going to be living here in the building, they have two rental properties,” Matt explained. “There is a two-bedroom basement apartment that is fully renovated and you have a four-bedroom apartment above the shoppe, which is absolutely gorgeous. The attention to detail and hardwood floor is astounding.”
With the store’s wooden furnishings, floors, shelves and barrels, Karen was inspired by the old-time appeal.
Customers who walk through the doors of the candy shoppe feel as though they are traveling back in time to an old-fashioned, specialty candy store. Aside from making much of the candy themselves, the Suttons stock the shop with candy that most people haven’t seen in years and with other kinds of candy that most people don’t even know existed.
“We just get a ton of comments from people who come in and it is especially gratifying to see someone come in and they will just make a beeline right to that one type of candy,” said Matt referring to Beeman’s gum or root beer barrels. “We have had people 50, 60 or 70 years old come in and you just see the age fall away from them. You really do. You see their eyes light up like kids.”
“You see the kid in their eyes, added Karen. “It is more fun to watch the older people. I mean, it is fun watching the kids, but it is more fun watching the older people turn into kids.”
Matt added, “You watch the kids come out in them. You see the nostalgia and you see what they were like and it is wonderful.”
“We have the best customers,” Karen said. “We really do. Most of them are like family and friends to us.”
Uncle Willy’s Candy Shoppe is open Monday through Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. They are closed on Sunday.
“Business is good, but I am originally from Virginia and we are anticipating going back to Virginia and relocating the store to the town of Fredericksburg,” Matt said. “That is what the plan is.”
“It is just a change for our family,” Karen injected. “We love it here.”
Matt added, “We do. It’s a fabulous town. It is a very open, very warm town. Not weather-wise, but personally speaking. It has good people in it. It has been a good experience for our kids. And, we do love this town.”
