Features

SWEET SUCCESS

Candy Shop Brings Back Old-School Vibe

WHEELING -- The allure of a candy composed of an improbably-edible, Styrofoam-like shell and tiny "beads" too hard for the tongue to fully discern as sweet is hard to put into words.

But, if you ever let a satellite disk dissolve to nothingness in your mouth when you were in the single digits of age … well, you just know.

Ditto for the rock-hard ribbon candies that were once commonly seen in glass bowls at grandmas' homes come Christmastime.

The same for long paper strips that were covered with candy dots that refused to properly peel off, chalk-like Necco wafers, old-school gummies dredged in granulated sugar and Pop Rocks that offered an alarming sizzle as they went down the hatch.

They were good. And, perhaps surprisingly, they still are.

These nostalgic sweets and scores more can be found by the bin at Lucky Candies 2, a Skittle-hued shop in the Plaza on Market.

"It's all about retro," owner Anton Drake said of the store, which opened in fall of 2021.

"We've got pretty much everything from the '60s to the '90s."

He's not kidding.

Even treats that seem edgy by 2023 standards are available. Think pastel cigars made from bubble gum and candy cigarettes that emit an actual puff of something smoke-like.

"I think adults have more fun in here than the kids," said Katie Berlenski, Drake's fiancee and business partner.

She noted the gum cigars are still a favorite vice of sorts. "Everyone that comes here, it's such a joy for them."

SWEET MODEL

Drake, who previously operated a home-cleaning service, said the store is modeled after Lucky Candies in Belle Vernon, Pa. That store was opened in July 2020 by his sister, Anissa Drake, and was a bit of a happy accident.

"It was a lottery store first," Drake explained. "Her and her friend had the idea of putting in some candy." Soon, the candy was the main draw.

Lucky Candies 2 put that learning curve to work. The couple started with the candy but added staples such as bread, eggs and milk to one corner of the store when they realized area apartment residents had nowhere else to do a quick shop after the downtown CVS store closed.

"We put our little twists on it," Drake said of enhancing the sweet side of the business, as well. "We make cotton candy for parties and stuff like that."

He also wanted to resurrect a vibe as well as the tastes from his own youth. "We used to have a candy store in East Wheeling. It was called Campos," he said. "There were big displays, just filled up with penny candy. We tried to do the same."

Burlenski pointed to two walls lined with nearly 100 bins of small candies ranging from Tootsie rolls to salt-water taffies in flavors such as buttered popcorn. For $5, customers can fill a box with as many of those items as will fit. "That's our version of penny candy," she said.

SWEET POSSIBILITIES

"It's a place to be," Drake said of the rapid redevelopment of the Plaza on Market. The micro neighborhood -- which historically housed a large facility similar to that found at Centre Market -- has attracted a number of businesses.

There's already Meraki hair salon, Tito's Not Just Doggs, Taqueria 304, Mmm Popcorn and DL's Hair and Clothing. A West Virginia University Medicine urgent-care clinic is also in the plaza, which is located near multiple existing apartments in addition to the mammoth Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel building that is in redevelopment as still more housing.

Burlenski said the couple's youngest of three children, Sire, 6, finds that business atmosphere almost as exciting as the shop's sweet inventory.

In January, he was already strategizing ways to package candies for coming Easter sales, she noted.

"He's our manager," Burlenski joked. "He told (building owner) Dean Connors that he wanted to own the whole plaza someday."

For now, though, Sire seemed content enough to indulge in a treat or two. He is a kid in a literal candy shop, after all.

This is something Burlenski said she and Drake are no longer tempted to do given how much time they now spend surrounded by candy.

Sire said he likes the old-school stuff, but his favorite is a more contemporary liquid candy called Toxic Waste Slime Lickers.

"I like it," Sire said of the novelty of messing around with an applicator tube. "When I roll it on my tongue it feels a little bit sour." It's good, his smile clearly said, in a candy-beads-in-a-foam-like-shell kind of way.