Rural candy shop sells more than 10,000 pounds of candy each December

MOUNT PLEASANT — For more than 50 years, a candy shop on a rural highway in Mount Pleasant has sold thousands of pounds of candy during the one month a year it is open.

Just this December, the candy shop — Maxwell Market, 2778 Franklin Ave. — sold out over 14,000 pounds of candy and closed for the season more than a week before Christmas.

It’s the “freshness” of the candy that keeps customers coming back year after year — even buying in bulk to tide them over until they can buy again, market manager Jessica Welch said.

“Every year, it seems like we have a couple customers who come in and say ‘I’ve just finished my last bag of candy from the year before,’” said Welch, who suggests customers come early in the season to get their first choice in candy.

The market — which is located in a farmhouse on a rural highway — is a “diamond in the rough,” Welch said. Families plan outings to the shop when the market opens every year the Tuesday before Thanksgiving to get the best selection of candies before they sell out.

“It’s a wonderful tradition for so many,” and families come through the market with three or four generations in tow, Welch said.

Then a candy is close to being sold out, the market packages up “crumb bags” of it, which they suggest as toppings on cookies, cakes or ice cream.

The candy shop offers up to 90 different candies from confectionaries across the country.

Crowd favorites include their five different types of peanut clusters, three different types of chocolate turtles, three different kinds of peanut brittle, and old-fashioned candies like chocolate drops, which is a creamy vanilla center wrapped in a delicious chocolate coating.

They also have candy like gummy bears, cinnamon balls and sponge candy, a light and crunchy toffee that is one of the shop’s bestsellers, Welch said.

Maxwell Market was started as a summer roadside fruit stand by Duane Maxwell in 1968 — mostly selling peaches. The market began selling candy around Christmas, which quickly grew in to a holiday tradition for many Iowans.

JoAnn Corell, sister of Duane Maxwell, is now the oldest living family member since her parents, siblings and husband died. While she can’t operate the market like she used to — relying on people like Welch — Corell said she still likes to make an appearance and chat with her customers about the good old days.

“We have a reputation that we’re worth waiting for,” Corell said.

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