It’s more than the sweet aromas of chocolate and freshly popped caramel corn swirling in the air that keep people returning to Charlie’s Caramel Corn and Candy Shop. It’s also the memories — 70 years worth.
The popular Vincennes, Indiana, business celebrated its 70th anniversary October-December in the same spot where its story started, at a two-story house along Second Street. Customers stopped in and stepped back in time with 1950s music and employees wearing poodle skirts, Pink Lady jackets, and other period garb.
Customers perusing the wide array of candies — bark, toffee, caramels, clusters, and pecan patties, among others — or a bag or tin of its popular caramel corn could fill out a form describing their memories of visiting the candy shop.
“This place over the years was special to a lot of people, and truly we have people daily come in here just for the memories,” says co-owner Lorrinda Ellermann, who has her own childhood memories of walking into what seemed like a magical kingdom, and where she later worked part-time as a teenager.
Ellermann and her husband, Bob, plus her brother Darrel Bobe and his wife, Emily, bought the candy shop in 2002 from original owners Charles and Lorethea Hamke. All treats still are made on-site using the Hamkes’ original recipes.
“A bad part of our business is when we have longtime customers pass away,” Lorrinda Ellerman says. “The good part is when the next generation comes in and carries on their family’s tradition.”
