In a small town in Indiana, there is a magical place where children’s sweet dreams are awakened and adults’ are relived. A place where wondrous creations can be watched as they are being born. It is a small factory, tucked away on a side street, called Abbott’s Candies. My family members have had their hand in making the Christmas rush of orders and the factory has been around longer than I have existed (since 1890, to be exact — now that is something to be proud of.)

Melt-in-your-mouth caramels from Abbott’s have had a far reaching reputation and are much coveted. The greatest compliment to a non-factory, hand made batch of caramels was to tell the beaming cook “these are as smooth as Abbott’s!”

Photo taken from website: http://www.abbottsalso.com/default.htm

I remember going into the store to buy a box of caramels for my Mother for Christmas. It was a solemn and very important occasion. A box of those sugary delights were the holy grail of Christmas candy and were treated with great respect.

This is why discovering that the company had been purchased brought both chills and thrills all in the same instance. Yay that our small town was retaining a precious tradition and heritage, but fears of change couldn’t help but seep into the joy. Come to find out, the new owners had been selling Abbott’s candies for nearly 10 years, so they already understood the appeal.

In reading the local paper, it appears they will not only be keeping tradition, the new owners are going to bring back old favorites that had been retired. What an exceptional marketing plan! And they will continue to offer them online and at their current stores.

By the way, my favorites are the plain or the cream puffs, if anyone is taking notes.

Picture of the Palladium Item – Richmond IN

Excerpt from the Palladium Item news article:

…So they bought the factory and store in Hagerstown and went to work, renovating some of the display cases inside the Hagerstown shop and learning all they could about the candy. They even encouraged employees — more than 20 work at the factory — to bring suggestions for new candy ideas.

Click for the full article from the Palladium Item.