“Like a kid in a candy store” has a different meaning when you were a kid who actually grew up in a candy store.
“We had to work – we didn’t have free rein. We had to ask for a piece of candy,” says Lynn White, who with her sisters, Donna Greenwald and Sandra Figatner, grew up working in the family business, Old Fashioned Candies.
They’re now second-generation owners of this sweet enterprise, which is celebrating 50 years in Berwyn this summer. In this storefront at 6210 Cermak Road, the sisters and a rotating cadre of employees who have come to feel like family still make candy the old-fashioned way. Generations of dedicated sweet-tooths keep flocking in for their best-selling chocolate-covered strawberries, nuts, creams, popcorn, seasonal favorites and celebratory favors that folks from far and wide have embraced for decades.
“Everything is hand-dipped. We make the cream centers,” notes White, whose parents, George and Theresa Brunslik, founded the business in 1969 in Chicago after acquiring it from members of the Morkes family, who moved to Palatine and still operate a chocolate shop there today. When they lost their lease in Chicago in 1976, the Brunsliks relocated to Berwyn, where the tradition continues.
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When they opened on Cermak, “we were afraid we couldn’t fill the store,” White recalls. “And now we don’t know where to put things. With TikTok and everything, there’s always something new.”
That’s where her son, Danny, comes in. He’s been running social media for the store, reaching out to a new generation of customers as he learns the business.
“I enjoy building a brand with our name on it and getting closer to my family doing it,” says Danny White, who’s also a Blue Island firefighter after working for other south suburban fire departments, including Stickney. “I also really love the community. Their support means so much to us after putting in hard work every day.”
Old Fashioned Candies is draped with history. Antique candy-making apparatus and ephemera line the walls and shelves, along with photos of the founders and other moments in time. A cotton candy machine basks in the front window. Exposed brick reveals the building’s century-plus vintage.
And then there’s the candy.
The store’s hand-enrobed chocolates are softer than mechanically dipped candies, Lynn White explains, and they make their own centers. “That sets us apart,” she says, “because of the consistency of the cream.” Nuts are roasted before they’re dipped, and everything is made in small batches.
What are the family’s favorites?
“Depends on the day,” White says – yesterday it was “Trinimoms,” their version of Fannie May’s Trinidads, the pastel-coated chocolate truffles. “I like the frozen fruit … and the graham crackers and sourdough pretzels.”
“I love the sour stuff,” Greenwald says. “Lemon cream is my favorite. And taffy apples … I like chocolate, too.”
“My favorite thing we make is the chocolate fudge with walnuts,” Danny White says, “but I usually eat something different off the counter every day, I like it all, and it’s important to me to be able to eat everything we make because I want to be able to describe it to people when they ask.”
Sampling is key to driving sales, and the family encourages folks to try things they won’t find elsewhere. “She always gives out peanut butter samples,” Lynn White says of Greenwald, “so we’re always out of peanut butter, because people keep buying it.”
But whether it’s Puppets (Old Fashioned’s version of turtles, which come totally dipped or “Old Way,” with the nut cluster sitting atop the chocolate), caramel and cheese “Berwyn Mix” popcorn (labeled with an image of the spindle of stacked cars that once stood in Berwyn Plaza) or nostalgia candy like buttons and bullseyes, the family aims to please.
“A man in South Carolina buys 3,600 2-pound boxes every year” of chocolate bark to give as corporate gifts, White says. And generations of families have ordered their wedding favors here, because this shop always goes the extra mile. White relates how her team once got photos from a wedding ceremony, rushed back to the store and created favors with the images on them in time for the reception. And when a regular customer came in needing favors for his daughter’s birthday party the next day, Old Fashioned delivered.
“We can offer them better service than other places,” Greenwald says. “We pride ourselves on our quality and service.”
Service like this drives loyalty, the kind that sustains a business even when it had to shut down for 10 months in 2014 after a fire on the block.
“Our biggest fear was that they would forget about us,” White recalls. “At our grand re-opening, the line was out the door.”
In with the new … and the old
White demonstrates making the store’s trademark chocolate-covered strawberries – hand-selecting the largest berries, removing their stems and dunking them in thick milk chocolate. She urges patience while the coating sets up before eating the berries at just the right consistency. They’re sweet and luscious, requiring multiple bites and care to keep them from dribbling down your shirt.
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“You have to dip and eat them the same day,” she explains.
That’s why Valentine’s Day is the store’s busiest time. “We’ll come in at 4 in the morning on the 13th and not leave until 7 p.m. on the 14th.”
The winter holidays are also busy, but it’s several weeks spread out starting in late November, when orders start pouring in for candy trays and cake pops for corporate party favors.
The store has kept up with trends and changing tastes while staying true to its heritage.
“We don’t do Dubai chocolate – you can get it anywhere,” White says. But how about chocolate-covered Flamin’ Hot Cheetos? She offers a sample; the thick, sweet milk chocolate coating gradually gives way to a crunch with a spicy finish. Last Father’s Day, the store rolled out chocolate-covered bacon.
“As the neighborhood has changed, we see what they like,” Greenwald says. “You have to change, to give the people what they want.”
Old Fashioned Candies has also been giving folks what they want from a second location in Indian Head Park since 2003, when the family purchased a store that had been carrying their products from its retiring owner.
Place of comfort
The Berwyn store has emerged as a safe haven for the family, longtime employees and the neighborhood. After years of entrusting the store to cater treats for all their major life events, some regulars may drop by not necessarily to buy, but just to bend an ear. “It’s a place of comfort for a lot of people,” Greenwald says, tearing up at the thought.
One longtime customer followed the store from Chicago to Berwyn, and when she died, Greenwald says, an Old Fashioned Candies chocolate heart was a key part of her funerary ceremonies.
“We have a customer who was 3 years old when we opened – now she brings her kids in,” White says. “Customers become our friends. We’re like ‘Cheers’ – we know their names.”
Greenwald adds: “And if you don’t know their names, you know what they buy.”
Paula Nagle has called Old Fashioned Candies her work home for 34 years, after working at a party store up the street. “When it closed, they took me in. It’s the best thing that ever happened to me,” Nagle says. “They’re more than bosses – they’re family.”
“She’s worked here so long,” White says, “she’s like our sister.”
A battalion of nieces and nephews have worked alongside the siblings and their children. One cousin has worked there since high school, going on 40 years. “It’s hard work, but we get to see them,” White says. “Family means more than anything.”
Greenwald says her kids have their own careers but her grandkids may work in the store when they’re a little older.
As for Danny White, he says the store has been the one constant in his life, the place where he played behind the counters and where his aunts taught him how to read and tie his shoes.
“It’s my family’s history and just knowing what they’ve put into it over the years motivates me every day,” he says. “My job for the business is wherever they need me, but I am definitely passionate about the creative aspects and hopefully by just being active with the social media and marketing, I can help bring in more customers. As far as the future of the business, I’d love to be around for OFC’s 100th anniversary.”
Old Fashioned Candies will commemorate 50 years of business at 6210 Cermak Road in Berwyn with a four-day event that kicks off with a special celebration on Thursday, Aug. 13. A ceremony scheduled for 11 a.m. will include remarks from city officials and special guests. The celebration will continue with a 57th anniversary sale (honoring the business’ 1969 founding in Chicago) through Sunday, Aug. 16, at the Berwyn location; the sale runs through Saturday, Aug. 15, at the Indian Head Park store, which is closed Sundays. More information is at http://www.oldfashionedcandiesinc.com.
Jim Dudlicek is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.
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