BILLY’S HOMEMADE CANDIES:
New product, website, same traditions
David Skipper of Billy’s Homemade Candies in Temple isn’t quite sure what to expect from a holiday shopping season unlike any other — but the 85-yearold business won’t be relying on gimmicks to draw customers to the store.
Sure, Billy’s Candies is running a sale, promoting its latest products and recently launched a new website that improves upon the online ordering experience.
If it all sounds very normal for a local candy store that after nearly a century still makes all of its own products in-house on Kutztown Road, well ... that’s sort of the point.
“We’re a traditional candy store, so tradition is our ‘ new thing’ this year,” said Skipper, who owns Billy’s Candies with his wife, Connie. “We try and keep things as close to the same as we can.”
For many of Billy’s customers, that means having the ability to build their very own box of chocolates, handpicking all of the varieties that will be inside.
That way, the recipient — whether it be a loved one or a gift to oneself — doesn’t have to eat around the pieces they don’t like, or worse, take a bite and put it back in the tray (like some kind of monster!).
And each piece of chocolate from Billy’s Candies has a special “signature” on top, so each variety is easily identifiable when boxed.
“What people especially like about our store is, number one, they can come in and select exactly what they want to get in our boxes,” Skipper said. “We have over 50 different varieties of our candies, most available in either milk chocolate and dark chocolate. There are also a few pieces of white chocolate.”
Gift boxes come in half-pound, 1-pound and 2-pound sizes, as well as in towers — multiple boxes
stacked in a pyramid shape and tied together with a ribbon or bow.
While Billy’s
Candies
shoppers come for their familiar favorites, the store hasn’t stopped innovating. One of the newest concoc
tions, a Homemade Hot Chocolate Bomb, makes the “best hot chocolate ever,” Skipper said.
“Just drop the Bomb into a large mug, pour warm milk over it and watch it explode,” said Skipper, warning they might sell out. “Kids love it. Old ‘kids,’ too.”
Skipper credits the Hot Chocolate Bomb to head candy and chocolate maker
Ally Latshaw, who works at Billy’s Candies with sister and office manager Rachel Latshaw.
Of course, the chocolatecovered elephant in the room is the coronavirus, which some retailers and industry analysts worry will dampen consumer enthusiasm, particularly at brick-and-mortar stores.
Billy’s Candies updated its website this fall, though, so it’s easier than ever for customers to have gifts shipped right to someone’s doorstep from billyscandies.com.
“A lot of people take advantage of shipping to loved ones or shipping to themselves,” Skipper said.
The storefront is open for business as well, offering complimentary gift-wrapping both in Christmas or non-Christmas paper. And through Dec. 24, customers can take advantage of an offer of $1 off per pound, regardless of how they choose to shop.
“We want everyone to be comfortable,” Skipper said. “We offer curbside pickup if you want to call ahead. Or, you can come into the store and select right from the case. We’re doing the masks, the gloves, the sanitation and all the things that are recommended.”
It’s all about keeping tradition alive at Billy’s Candies, even in the midst of a pandemic.
“We want to help Berks County celebrate the best way we can here, in the safest manner possible, and we hope we’re doing our part,” Skipper said.
While Billy’s Candies shoppers come for their familiar favorites, the store hasn’t stopped innovating. One of the newest concoctions, a Homemade Hot Chocolate Bomb, makes the “best hot chocolate ever,” Skipper said.