Cleveland’s Confection Connection: b.a. Sweetie Candy

A trip back in time. That’s what Cleveland’s b.a. Sweetie Candy, better known as Sweeties, provides visitors. Just how far back depends on your age.

Everyone has candy-connected childhood memories.

No one knows that better than Tom Scheiman, the ebullient owner of the 40,000-square-foot candy store — the nation’s largest — located at 6700 Brookpark Rd., near Ridge Road. 

Inside the cavernous warehouse, seven days a week, visitors can peruse the $3 million inventory, which includes 5,500 candy varieties, canisters of Charles Chips potato chips and multiple popcorn flavors and brands, including newly acquired Campbell’s and Humphrey, as well as Sweeties’ own brand made on site.

A soda/ice cream (homemade, of course) shop and two 18-hole miniature golf courses with lots of giant lollipops complete Sweeties’ menu of offerings for kids of all ages. 

We Ate Those!
Those last five words are more than a cliché as shoppers roam the aisles with their children and grandchildren. Visitors delight in retro confections that connect with their childhoods while they introduce their children and grandchildren to such treats. 

For Boomers, it’s candy necklaces and buttons, Good & Plenty (remember Choo Choo Charlie?), Necco Wafers and Turkish Taffy (banana was the best!) that evoke the fondest memories. 

Meanwhile, GenXers and Millennials are transported back in time with such favorites as Airheads bars, Blow Pops (blue raspberry, of course), Gummi Bears and Sour Patch Kids. Classics such as Reese’s Cups, Snickers and Tootsie Rolls are well represented, too. 

Sticky-Sweet Memories
“I hear customers’ favorite stories every day,” says Scheiman, whose office door is rarely shut. 

“They talk about how they collected Coke bottles and turned them in for the deposits. With cash in their pockets, they rode their bicycles — all decked out with baseball cards in the spokes—to the corner store to buy their favorite candies. As they’re sharing these stories, they’re smiling and it’s electric because you can tell that they’ve gone back in time to when they were 6 or 8 years old, all because of the memories associated with a special candy or two. That’s what it’s all about,” says the 66-year-old Scheiman, whose favorite confections are Chunky and Bun Maple candy bars.

Today, Scheiman also sells sugar-free and organic candy. “Our customers don’t necessarily walk in wanting to buy something that’s good for them. However, Grandma, while shopping with the grandkids, may buy them their favorites, and if she sees a bag of sugar-free licorice, she may buy that for herself.”

As for the initials in the name, Scheiman, who began his candy career more than 50 years ago with a candy wholesale distributor in Solon, explains that the original name of the company was Bag A Sweet Candy Company. 

“The name meant something to be because when I was a teen, I enjoyed Bag A Sweet chocolate raisins,” Scheiman says. “A decade later in 1982 at age 27, I bought the company. When I changed its name in the early 1990s, I felt it was important to pay tribute to the original name by keeping the initials. Hence, the name: b.a. Sweetie Candy Co.” 

The name change also made good business sense, Scheiman notes. “Back then (when AT&T urged, ‘Let your fingers do the walking’), I also wanted to ensure that the new name appeared first under the Candy Stores heading in the Yellow Pages.” 

Now, Sweeties relies on its online store, Facebook and television advertising. “We remain committed to making memories and promoting nostalgia,” he says, before excusing himself to do both as he shows a visitor a miniature replica of Euclid Beach amusement park (1895-1969).

Not every sweet memory is made of sugar.

Joe Jancsurak is a Northeast Ohio writer. His go-to candy as a kid was Whoppers malted milk balls. Today, it’s peanut M&Ms.