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A ‘true treat’: Historic candy shop gets a taste of opening second location over Independence Day weekend

By Tabitha Johnston - Chronicle Staff | Jul 7, 2023

Chris and Holly Tawney, of Sharpsburg, Md., browse through 19th century candy in the True Treats Historic Candy pop-up shop at Evolve on Saturday afternoon. Tabitha Johnston

SHEPHERDSTOWN — True Treats Historic Candy spent five days over the Independence Day weekend experimenting with a temporary business expansion, by holding a pop-up shop in Evolve.

According to store manager Marcia Essex, True Treats Historic Candy owner Susan Benjamin has been thinking of opening a second shop in a major historic vacation spot over the last couple of years. With this past weekend’s pop-up shop experience, Essex believes Benjamin will decide to take that next step with the business expansion in the coming year.

“This is a micro-version of what our shop in Harpers Ferry looks like,” Essex said on Saturday afternoon. “It’s a good experience for us, because we are looking to expand. We wanted to see how we would do in getting set up and making sure we would have all of the candy ready for two locations.”

Essex noted that, while this trial run was being held in Shepherdstown, the second shop location will likely be in one of three possible cities: Gettysburg, Pa., Williamsburg, Va. or St. Augustine, Fla.

“We’ve had some people come in who have said, ‘This would be perfect in St. Augustine!'” Essex said. “We’ve been featured on Food Network, the History Channel, Jeopardy — on most of our labels you will see a little bit of the history behind each kind of candy. We’re the only research-based historic candy shop in the nation.”

True Treats Historic Candy Manager Marcia Essex runs the pop-up shop in Evolve on Saturday. Tabitha Johnston

While many local residents are familiar with True Treats Historic Candy, due to its shop’s close proximity to Shepherdstown, a good number of visitors to the pop-up shop were unfamiliar with the business. For Chris and Holly Tawney, of Sharpsburg, Md., trying the shop’s historic candy from the 1600s through the 1900s was a fun way for them to connect with the past.

“I had never heard of this, but this is a delightful concept!” Holly said. “Our house was built in the 1700s. I think it’s cool to see the candy from the 1700s — the people who built that house would have been eating that kind of candy.”

The oldest kind of candy in the pop-up shop was from the Native Americans — a sesame brittle.

“That’s from the 1600s. The Native Americans used honey as a preservative [to make this]. So, it’s essentially the first peanut brittle,” Essex said.

The most modern candy in the shop dated to the time around the 1940s, Essex said, pointing out a soldier “mess kit” candy assortment with sour balls from World War II. The pop-up shop also carried historic tea and soda varieties, for those seeking a refreshing break from the summer heat.

Benjamin’s 10th book on historic candy, “Sweet as Sin: The Unwrapped Story of How Candy Became America’s Favorite Pleasure,” was recently published, and may be purchased on the True Treats Historic Candy website, https://truetreatscandy.com/, or in the permanent shop at 144 High Street in Harpers Ferry.