Celebrating 75 years in the sweet spot

For Snyder’s Candy of Rehoboth Beach, 75 years has never tasted so sweet.

The venerable Rehoboth Avenue candy shop is celebrating its diamond anniversary this year, and owner Jeff Balk is pulling out all the stops.

Snyder’s has a new logo, new color scheme, new website and a truckload of deals. Balk said he was aiming for bright, vivid colors, and he’s succeeded almost too well; he said people frequently come in wondering if it is a new store.

“It’s just amazing what a little innovation can do to attract attention,” Balk said.

Snyder’s can trace its roots back to 1940, although the building at 60 Rehoboth Ave. dates back even further. Lois Anne Snyder-Rayner, daughter of longtime Snyder’s owner Bill Snyder, said the building was actually brought from Bethany Beach in two pieces. She said her father purchased the business in 1953 from Forrest Snyder, no relation.

Snyder-Rayner said for most of its years, Snyder’s was the teenage hangout in Rehoboth as kids frequented the soda fountain, drank root beer floats and ate ice cream and banana splits. In addition to confectionary treats, she said, Snyder’s also sold cigars and coffee; besides kids, the store was also popular with adults. A coffee club, held into the 1960s, was a place where townspeople would hold court.

Snyder-Rayner said the store was next to what was then a transportation hub of the city; in the back was the Trailways and Greyhound bus station, and at one point, the train station, now the Rehoboth Beach-Dewey Beach Chamber of Commerce Visitors Center, was close by.

Snyder’s truly was a family business; Snyder-Rayner worked there when she was a kid and said the family lived above the store until 1968. The building was sold to Paul Rogers in 1969 and briefly went under the name Peterson’s House of Fudge. It eventually returned to the Snyder’s name, and Bill Snyder continued to operate it until 1977, when he sold it to Lois and her husband, Curt. She kept the store running until 2002, when it was sold to Jason Barringer and Eric Berry. Until then, the Snyders had operated the store for nearly 50 years.

In 2006, Snyder’s was on the verge of closing for good, until an unlikely buyer emerged in the person of Balk, who had been in the publishing business.

“I wanted to get out of that and into something different,” he said. “This store was for sale. It was in the process of being shut down. They had very little inventory; they had been trying to sell it for over a year.”

Balk’s plan was to increase inventory and bring back the old-time feel of Snyder’s. He actively sought input from Snyder-Rayner to accomplish that. He said to start, he installed a black and white checkerboard floor and put the candy in old-fashioned-style jars. Balk also brought in lunchboxes, retro toys, tins and stuffed animals.

“Ways to attract people - but also things that the original store used to sell back in the '70s and '80s,” he said.

Now that he’s owned the store nearly 10 years, Balk said he is seeing a whole new generation of children coming to Snyder’s.

“Kids who were in strollers when I bought the store are now much older. In most businesses here you become friends with your customers,” he said.

Balk said he’s always had a sweet tooth, dating back to when his father owned a pharmacy with a soda fountain and a candy counter.

“I guess I took a lot of the ideas and knowledge that my dad taught me,” he said. “I never thought I would own a candy store.”

For the 75^th anniversary, Snyder’s will be offering discounts throughout the summer through its official website and on Facebook.

“We plan on doing many fun things with the number 75 in the store this year,” Balk said. He wants to keep what’s planned for the summer a secret until the season kicks in.

Balk said the secret to Snyder’s longevity is good customer service and affordability.

“People know they can come in here and describe what they are looking for, and we can try to find it,” Balk said. “People know it for being local and being friendly.”

One person who’s happy with what Balk has done is Snyder-Rayner, who still visits occasionally when she’s up from her home in Naples, Fla. She said there are a lot of flashbacks when she goes to the store, and she praised the man for keeping the name alive.

“It’s Jeff’s store, and I’m proud of him,” Snyder-Rayner said. “My dad would be so thrilled to know it was still Snyder’s.”

Snyder’s Candy is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Thursday-Monday in the off-season, seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. in the summer. For more information, visit snyderscandy.com or call 226-3994 or 302-CANDY-94.