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Candy store sweet idea for Dunbar's latest venture
Opening a new candy store a couple blocks off the square in Greencastle, Lynda Dunbar hasn't gone completely nuts but she has poured her time and talents into the Completely Nuts and Candy Co.
The new business, designed to capture the sweet tooth of many a passerby as well as those looking for a sweet way to celebrate a holiday or special occasion, opened recently at 302 N. Jackson St. (northwest corner of Liberty and Jackson) in the little building most longtime residents remember as a Zephyr gas station.
The name comes from her son's reaction when he learned she was opening her third local business in the last 10 years after past runs with Treasures in the Cellar, which she opened in 2004 and sold candy and gifts on West Walnut Street, and Treasures on the Square at 2 W. Washington St., where she added food to the menu with candy and other treats.
"Now I'm back to candy only," Dunbar noted. "Even when I sold my restaurant, I made it very clear to the new owner that I would be opening a candy store eventually."
And now she has with great initial response.
"My son thinks I am completely nuts to open another business," Dunbar laughingly told the Banner Graphic as a noontime rush kept a constant parade in and out of the little building she and husband Scott painstakingly renovated over a six-week period.
Oldest son Kyle, a graphic design major at the University of Indianapolis, created the simple but distinctive store logo used inside and out.
Completely Nuts offers all kinds of snacks like pretzels, nuts and even Oreos dipped in chocolate or other coatings, along with chocolates and homemade caramels, hand-rolled and dipped truffles and a variety of cremes. Dunbar even makes her own gourmet popcorn (Gus').
Her favorite, however, is any easy call.
It's the turtles, and she's selling those like hotcakes as the store is making 300-500 pieces of candy daily to keep up with the holiday demand for chocolate and candy treats.
"So when you're coming in, you're buying candy likely made that day," Dunbar said of the freshness factor of the local candy business as co-workers Pam Steele and Carrie Sheets worked on some of the latest candy items.
"I've toyed with making candy before," Dunbar explained, "but never to sell. We just started making it and realized it was probably good enough to sell."
Judging by reactions to the first bites of several candy connoisseurs visiting the shop, there's no "probably" about it.
"We're finding a lot of people are excited because they can come in a get three or four pieces of candy relatively inexpensively to celebrate somebody's birthday at work," noted the candy store owner, whose day job is Greencastle city clerk-treasurer, a position for which she plans to seek re-election.
Admitting it's "always a risk" starting a new business, Dunbar said part of the fun of it has been taking an unused building and turning it back into a useful location.
It's a perfect spot for the candy shop, a couple of blocks off the square with several off-street parking spaces of its own.
And in this case, there's even a history of candy buying at the location, last used as a hair salon after prior incarnations as a video store and a framing shop in its reported 100-year-old history.
"A lot of people came down here and bought candy when it was the gas station," Dunbar said, noting it was popular with children in the area, especially with the old Jones School just about a bon-bon's throw away.
"Basically there's a candy holiday about every month of the year," Dunbar said, listing Boss' Day, Secretaries' Day, Mothers' Day and Fathers' Day as possibilities, along with the old standbys Valentine's Day, Halloween and Easter (they'll be making their own Easter bunnies, incidentally).
Then there's candy for anniversaries and birthdays and that "I just need a piece of candy day," Dunbar smiled.
Current hours at Completely Nuts and Candy, which will be open year-round, are 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday through Friday and 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, although they may be shortened some after the holiday and curtailed a bit over the summer.