Sweet-Tooth Fix For Baby Boomers: Nostalgic Candy

wlky ^ | 10-30-03

[wheelgunguru]

Baby Boomers can't seem to grow up, at least when comes to their taste in candy.

People who want to celebrate Halloween with wax lips, Gold Mine Gum and other hard-to-find candies from their youth are finding more companies catering to the middle-age sweet tooth.

The Woodstock Candy company in upstate New York is doing a booming business, catering to the boomers' sweet-tooth.

They have retro goodies like wax lips, candy cigarettes and those candy buttons on paper. But the company is up-to-date in marketing.

Boomers can buy their sugar fix from the Web site WoodstockCandy.com.

There's also a bow to the political correctness of the 21st century. Candy cigarettes are now called candy sticks. But some old-time favorites still provide a puff of sugar when you blow through a hole in the middle.

Bridget Sweeney-Bell says people are usually thrilled to find candy from their childhood is still available. She says candy buttons, Nik-L-Nip and candy cigarettes are big sellers this year on her Web site.

Tom Scheiman stocks 2,500 items in his Cleveland candy store, 200 of which he classifies as "nostalgic."

Nostalgic candy has become a niche in the $24 billion U.S. candy business, in part because the biggest candy makers like Wrigley and Pennsylvania-based Hershey have concentrated on fewer items, especially chocolate.

That means wax lips and Atomic Fireballs can be hard to find on store shelves.

[meowmeow]

Bottle Caps! (Except the root beer flavor, yuck!)

I am eating some right now! Found them at Target. I've been watching for them for 20 years! And now as an adult I can eat as many as I want, bwahahahah (which is about...10).

[spectre]

Well, if YOU ever see "Ju-Ju B's" at the dollar store, please FReepmail me! I'll go right down there.

sw

[venturin]

I always liked Lemonheads and Zotz. Remember Zots? The hard candy with the fizzy, tart powder in the middle? MMMM. I found them again at a Farm Store near here and I love them still.

[xsmommy]

yunz jagoffs are old, how come yunz aren't here at the old timer candy store?

[frodolives]

Same here! My brother was a Quake fan, I was for Quisp. And as for Puffa Puffa Rice- "This is the cereal that's shot from guns!"

[chickenlips]

Bonomo vanilla Turkish Taffy!

[cowtowney]

I remember when they raised the price to 6 cents. You had to put the penny in the machine first or something.

[Shooter 2.5]

Bullseyes.

It was a brown carmel around a white sugar center.

[Ciexyz]

Chocolate babies

I hate to tell you what we called those candies in the '50's. "N----- babies". I remember my Grandma told me, don't call them that at school, you might hurt someone's feelings. Even back then, we kids realized that it was a bad name to say.

[spectre]

This thread is fun!

Course I remember Zots...and all the rest of what was bad for us, but oh so good.

sw

[Ciexyz]

I've ordered nostalgia candy off ebay. Candy cigarettes, chocolate candy cigarettes, candy necklaces, rock candy pops in various colors, gold nuggets chewing gum, candy wafers (we called them communion wafers, they had candy dots inside).

Shame that today, candy dots are on a piece of wax paper. In the 50's, you could get them on a licorice belt. When you ate the candy dots off, then you could hit your siblings with the belt (!).

[wheelgunguru]

Yunz? Where in Tennessee are you?

[avg_freeper]

Marathon bars and Seven Up bars were my favorite.

[Cinnamon Girl]

I remember Sky Bars when I was really little, but they disappeared sometime after nursery school. We used to put Charleston Chews in the freezer and then smash them into bite size pieces to eat on the way to Boon Cove in the summer riding in the backseat without seatbelts in our bathingsuits singing along to Paul McCartney's "Silly Love Song" on the radio.

[dogbyte12]

They just put black jack, beeman's, and clove gum on the counter at the 7-11 here in Cali today. Go figure.

[Mjaye]

Excellent resource! Also, The Vermont Country Store stocks many nostalgic candies and other hard to find products, and they take requests to find stuff. I bought some "Evening in Paris" perfume from them, but it's much more potent than the watered down version we bought at the five and dime when I was growing up.

[estrogen]

They still sell Mars bars...I get them all the time.

On a nostalgic theme, I keep hearing ads for Breck is back on the radio yet I can't find it anywhere. Breck shampoo was the best. Does anyone know where I can find it ?

[AppyPappy]

There is a store in Boone, NC and Valle Crucis, NC that sells ALL of these candies. It's called the Candy Barrel.

[Works_For_Scale]

Marathon Bar

I was just about to post about these!!!! They were my absolute FAVORITE!!!

There's actually a poor substitute for the venerable Marathon Bar available. Its called a "Curly Wurly," and its made by Cadbury. Good luck finding them in the states though.

[wheelgunguru]

bttt