A Sweet Future
Business Gives Sneak Peek
By Scott Rochat
Welcome to the most dangerous business in town.
“I think I’m putting on 12 pounds just breathing this!” Jennell Tebbetts said as she looked at the display cases of the Sweet Granada. Row upon row of temptations looked back.
Chocolate fudge. Peanut butter fudge. Chocolate, cherry or amaretto truffles. Clusters, candied apples and all the elements of a chocoholic’s dream come true – or a dentist’s worst nightmare.
And for six hours on Friday, the doors were open for a sneak peek. “I don’t know of another ribbon cutting that the staff has looked forward to more than this one,” joked Jeff Longbine, chairman of the Emporia Area Chamber of Commerce. “Kelly (Mayer) has been talking about this for weeks!”
She apparently wasn’t the only one. Between 30 and 40 people crowded into Emporia’s new candy shop in the first 30 minutes after its 11:30 a.m. dedication. The crowd even drew a few onlookers off the street, to see why the mob had gathered.
Some were there on a mission, like Carolyn Van Syoc, who was bagging a few things up for her coworkers at Emporia State Bank.
“They know I’m coming to this, so if I come back without samples, they may not let me in the door,” she said.
Co-owners Kim Redeker and her mother, Toni Bowling were kept on the move working the crowd.
“I think I’m insane,” Redeker said at about 10 minutes after noon, when the crowd had thinned a little. “I think this community is amazing. I’m speechless.”
Redeker and Bowling actually knew where they wanted to work before they knew what it was they wanted to do. In the last months of 2003, fund-raising for the Granada Theatre’s restoration was nearly complete, but one of the neighboring storefronts was still vacant.
If we could get the money, Redeker suggested, we should move in there.
Why a candy shop? Blame the Granada Coffee Co., home-away-from-home for Rocky Slaymaker and Bev Beers.
“We thought Rocky and Bev had done so well with the coffee company that this would be a nice compliment to it,” Redeker said. “And there’s nothing like it in town.”
Well-lit with a classic tiled ceiling, the shop presents a welcoming attitude – and at times a humorous one. One of the more popular non-candy purchases for the store so far has been a shirt reading “I support NCLB – No Chocolate Left Behind.”
“We had some legislators walk through to tour the Granada,” Redeker said. “They saw that and went ape. They bought three of them like that.”
And the shop’s so nice, they’re opening it thrice. Besides the unofficial Friday opening, the shop will officially open for business on Monday and then hold a grand opening November 27, complete with samples, door prizes and giveaways.
The store will open each day at 10:30 a.m. Closing times will be 6 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday; 8:00 p.m. on Wednesday; 9:00 p.m. on Friday and Saturday; and 3 p.m. on Sunday.
Right now, Redeker and Bowling are looking forward to a sweet future.
“It’s going to be important to us that every time someone comes in, they enjoy themselves,” Redeker said. “If they do that, we can’t lose.”
