You'll love this, I think
I want to show you something remarkable in the Land of 10,000 ordinary places, but I can't. They won't let me.
Who is "they?" The folks that I would cover.
They have a perfect right to refuse and it's not that they've done anything wrong. Far from it! In fact, I want to do a story about them doing something very, very right. At least, I think they're right. (by "right," I mean "correct." Nobody should get confused).
Anyway, there is this place a few miles south of Jordan that bills itself as Minnesota's Largest Candy Store. I don't know if it is or it isn't. I don't care. It's a pretty remarkable place and I wanted to do a story about it on KARE.
But I can't. It's their store and their property and since they haven't done anything wrong that I know of, I can't FORCE them to let us shoot a nice, little story and let all of Minnesota into the secret.
Well, honestly, a lot of people MUST know about the "secret" because how else would the place stay in business? This is old fashioned commerce. They do it with word of mouth and location, location, location.
The location is right on Highway 169, the main drag between the Twin Cities and Mankato. Thousands of folks pass by the big yellow quanset hut of a building every day and a fair number of them must stop.
We just thought it would be a good idea to let the folks who don't go that way very often, if at all, in on what's there. In other words, it would make a great Gopher Getaway: take the kids, load the car and make it an easy day trip. But no.
Don't think I'm being critical of the owners of this place. I'm not. In fact, I don't really want the place to change at all. I think it's perfect for what it is: a Mecca for candy nostalgia.
They have just about every kind of candy you can think of, plus some neat, fresh baked goods as well. I mean they have stuff you don't see any more that folks of a certain age will remember from their youth. From Pop Rocks to Bonomo's Turkish taffy, it's all there. You'll be mesmorized, I guarantee you.
That's if you have, or once, had a sweet tooth like me.
Don't bother calling. There's no phone. Don't look for a website. They don't have one. You can find comments on the internet (like this one) about the place, but it's all from outsiders.
All I can tell you is, it's a family operation. I believe at least three generations of these folks work the place, restocking the candy, manning the cash register, etc.
This is really old-fashioned retail at its best. And did I mention that they are nice? I mean, really nice. Oh yeah, the credit card? Forget it. Cash or checks only. Remember those days? If not, you need to stop in and see how things once worked. And they DID work!
That's the real sweetness of the place. You have to go there. You can't teleport yourself through cyberspace. I guess they're not looking to expand. They're certainly not looking for publicity.
As a guy who deals with lots of people who can't wait to get on TV with a lesser offering, these folks are refreshing. I just wish they'd let me do that darn story. I know there are others. This will just be one that "got away."
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