Belleville, IL — At Crafty Sugar Company, you'll find sweets from your childhood and a whole lot more.
Mike Thouvenot said, "Adults come in and are just as stunned and wander around as the kids do."
One of the best sellers is lunch bag candy, which are gummies shaped like burgers and pizza. Kids love this stuff but there's sweets every generation can appreciate.
Mike said, "We've got some classics from the 70s like Zots.
The candy is just part of this story, the history is another. Proudly displayed on the wall, a black and white photo of an ice cream and soda shop from more than a century ago. A picture that looks a whole lot like the outside of this building because it is this building. That's right, this building is living a second life as a candy store, something the owners of Crafty Sugar Company didn't realize at first.
"No, had no idea at that time not until I started looking for pictures," he said.
As best he can tell, the candy shop was here around 1900. And it wasn't just any candy shop.
"Something I didn't even realize until I started on this project is that Jelly Belly got its roots here in Belleville," he said.
Yes, that Jelly Belly.
"It started as the Goelitz Family Candies and Confections and this was one of the three locations they had in their time in Belleville. There were two brothers that started Goelitz Family Candies. One of the sons took over and eventually split into two companies one moved to California and one kept the family name and the one in California became Jelly Belly," he said.
As soon as the owner found out the Jelly Belly connection to Belleville, he wanted to pay tribute to the past. So he dedicated an entire room to Jelly Belly. A new shop paying tribute to the past in the sweetest way possible.
Crafty Sugar Company:
104 E. Main Street
Belleville, IL
(618) 416-7689
facebook.com/CraftySugarCo
