After working in the banking sector for more than two decades, Stratford resident Kelly Lindsay was ready for a career change that would allow her to combine her business knowledge with her passion for sweets.
“For my whole life, I’ve always loved candy,” said Lindsay. “The idea just came to me during the tail end of the pandemic. I was out for a walk and I was thinking, ‘What else can I do here?’”
The idea came to fruition when Corner Store Candy Co. opened at the beginning of September.
Lindsay started researching suppliers, pouring over social media pages of similar candy shops in other cities, and sharing her potential idea with family and friends. “Everybody said it was a great idea because Stratford doesn’t have anything like this,” she said. “I really just ran with it.”
The result is a cheerful York Street shop that specializes in unique candies and custom confectionery mixes.
“My main goal is to carry things that you can't just go to your local store and find – it’s international things, it's hard-to-find things, it's retro candy,” explained Lindsay.
The shop also carries candies for customers with special dietary needs and preferences, such as gluten-free and halal-friendly varieties.
Lindsay said one of the store’s bestsellers so far has been freeze-dried candy.
“It’s really popular on TikTok right now. It’s something that was formerly chewy – like Skittles or caramels – and the freeze-drying process makes it crunchy and airy. It flew off the shelves.”
In addition to hard-to-find packaged candies, Kelly also creates custom mixes with the almost 100 kinds of gummies she carries in her shop.
“I pull together a selection to create mixes that I think are interesting for people."
For example, the ‘Poppin Bottles’ mix features a variety of bottle gummies, while the ‘Animal Planet' mix includes a range of animal gummies.
Lindsay also curates candy charcuterie boards, which she says can be a fun option for parties and family gatherings.
“If you think of a traditional meat, cracker and cheese charcuterie board, it's the same thing but with candy,” she explained. “It's a combination of different types of gummy candies, licorice, and then I always throw on some packaged things like little boxes of Nerds or Fun Dip or chocolate bars.”
Lindsay said Corner Store Candy Co. will also soon release mystery boxes that will contain surprise assortments of sweets.
“You won't know what's inside but you're going to get a bunch of cool things from the shop."
Less than a week into its run, the owner has already received positive reception from locals. Lindsay said one of her favourite things in the early days of the company is hearing customer comments about seeing candies for the first time in years, or remembering them from their childhood.
“I want to elicit these memories and feelings for people and bring that joy back to them because I think we all need a little bit of that right now.”
27 York St, Stratford, ON
