By BRADEN LAMMERS
Braden.Lammers@newsandtribune.com
JEFFERSONVILLE —
Most Jeffersonville residents know Schimpff’s has been a fixture on Spring Street for more than 100 years — established in 1891— and on Friday the confectionery was showing off to its peers.
Jill and Warren Schimpff, the store’s proprietors, were hosting groups of fellow candy store owners and distributors attending the 90th annual Retail Confectioners International convention and industry conference in Lexington.
“As part of the show, they always go on field trips or tours to candy factories in the area,” Warren Schimpff said.
Schimpff’s was the host for the second day of tours and from the look and reaction of the crowd, it was the highlight of the day.
From the well-practiced candy-making demonstration — infused with some history and humor — to the end result of the warm, spicy and sweet cinnamon red hot, the Schimpffs showcased their unique family business. While the husband and wife team may not be the only candy store around, they have cemented their place with the other small-business owners as a destination.
“Our organization is built of a lot of mom-and-pop candy companies and a lot of the mom-and-pop candy companies still do things the old-fashioned way,” said Mike Koch, president of RCI and owner of Morley Brands LLC, a Michigan-based candy company. “It’s really an art form when you see them make candy like that.”
“I think the overall experience is fantastic,” Koch said. “We do tours frequently at our conventions and the energy and enthusiasm [Schimpff’s] have put into it has just been fabulous.”
The candy-making demonstration and tour — of which the Schimpff’s average 10 to 15 per week — was not the only attraction that wowed the visitors.
“This is the largest confectionery museum I have seen,” said Gary Dinstuhl, sales manager from Guittard Chocolate Co. and former owner of Memphis-based Dinstuhl’s Candies. “A lot of people can’t appreciate what they see here, but this truly is American history.”
Sacrificing the volume of candy made to preserve the family history and craft is part of what attracts the crowds to the Jeffersonville landmark.
“There are some aspects of the confectionery business that are very, very profitable and everybody does it, but there are some aspects that are not terribly profitable so the art of doing that is dying off,” Dinstuhl said. “Producing hard candy, especially the way that Warren is doing it, nobody is doing this anymore. This is something unique. It’s just not something you see every day anymore.”
The concept of the business, according to others in the industry, has strong roots.
“For all of us it’s how you get people into their business,” Koch said. “With what they’ve done here, obviously they are very enthusiastic about their tours ... to not only promote their local area, but to promote their business as well and to promote the industry.”
By allowing other confectioners into their shop, the Schimpff’s aren’t worried about giving away trade secrets; they just want to be able to share their store and its history.
“A lot of shops are selling to the community — I think we’re selling to the nation — a concept of what a candy shop was [and] the history you can see here,” Warren Schimpff said.
The recognition received from their peers did not go unnoticed.
“It’s absolutely fantastic to have fellow people in the candy industry validate what we’ve got here, see what we’ve got here, what’s in Jeffersonville and to validate what we’ve done, but also to see what we’ve done for the industry,” Warren Schimpff said. “Nobody has a candy museum like we have here and the people that have come this morning have walked away with their mouths dropped.”
