Snacks by the Pound a sweet addition to State Street
NEWTOWN BOROUGH – Newtown just got a lot sweeter with the opening of Snacks by the Pound, a candy and specialty gift basket store located inside the historic White Hall Hotel at 127 South State Street.
Just in time for the holiday season, owners Tracey and Larry Laiken of Langhorne, along with Tracey’s mom, Judy Fiume of Newtown, cut the ribbon Dec. 1 on State Street’s newest addition.
After 14 years of doing business on Bridgetown Pike in Feasterville, the couple made the decision to move the store to historic Newtown this fall. They officially opened their doors on Nov. 9 next to Pat’s Colonial Kitchen.
“It’s a dream come true to be in a little town that you love and doing what you enjoy,” said Tracey, who has worked in the retail business with her husband for a little more than two decades. “To me, this is perfect. I love making packages and I love making candy. It makes me happy.
“And Newtown is great,” adds Tracey. “It’s like a little Mayberry town. Everyone is friendly. It’s just a nice little town.”
Like their Feasterville location, their Newtown store is chock full of sweet treats including a display case brimming with chocolates (carmels, truffles, chocolate covered jellies, peanut and raisin clusters and creams) as well as Tracey’s own homemade fudge and chocolate cupcakes.
But that’s just for starters.
The business also carries an assortment of gourmet Belgian chocolate-covered pretzels, which Tracey says are one of the store’s best sellers, along with snack mixes, cookies, nuts and bins filled with an assortment of bulk candy.
Customers will also find themselves reminiscing about the good old days with the store’s collection of novelty items – Pop Rocks, Sugar Daddy’s, gold coins, Fruit Stripe gum, coal candy, Turkish Taffy, wax bottles and candy buttons - straight from the 60s and 70s.
Intermingled among the candy selections are gifts for all occasions, stocking stuffers and party favors.
“We try to offer a little bit of something for everyone,” said Tracey.
One of the store’s specialties is its unique custom-made gift boxes, packages and baskets, which come in a variety of themes for any occasion and are “wrapped with tender love and care and lavished with delicious, cookies, nuts and creamy chocolates.”
Among Tracey’s specialties are handmade chocolate cupcake boxes - from small to giant - that can be filled with candy, chocolates, nuts, snack mixes, cookies, gourmet pretzels and gifts.
“We’ll work with you and your budget,” said Tracey. “We don’t make it so that you have to buy at a particular price range. We have all different ranges. And we can put together anything you like.”
Tracey, who is originally from Manhattan, and her husband, who hails from Northeast Philadelphia, began their careers in the wholesale business more than two decades ago. They operated their first retail business, the Nut Works on Castor Avenue in Philadelphia, for several years before purchasing Snacks by the Pound in Feasterville in 1998.
Joining the store owners in cutting the ribbon on the new business were U.S. Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick, Newtown Business Association President Mick Petrucci, Frank Brassell and Paul Salvatore from the Newtown Corporation, Mayor Dennis O’Brien and Newtown Borough Councilmembers Chuck Machion and Perry Warren.
“This store is absolutely fantastic,” said Petrucci. “It’s not just every store you can go into and find these old-fashioned candies. And the baskets that Tracey does are absolutely dynamite.
“This store is also filling a vacancy so it’s a win-win for Newtown. Hopefully the community will embrace this new business, support it and keep it going for many, many years,” he said.
Nearby, Congressman Fitzpatrick was purchasing some bulk spearmint leaves to take home to his family
“Newtown is a great place to work and do business,” said Fitzpatrick. “And Newtown is alive with shoppers – people out doing their holiday shopping and enjoying a historic town. To see something new in such a great town is foreshadowing recovery in our economy and reinvestment – a lot of sweet things,” he said.