Completely Nuts and Candy owner Lynda Dunbar is not new
to the candy buisness. She sold cremes at her previous business,
Treasure's on the Square. Dunbar plans on expanding
to Crawfordsville with a new location by July.
SAM CARAVANA/THE DEPAUW
Completely Nuts and Candies only opened their doors back in early November, but is now facing its biggest event of the year with the near arrival of Valentine’s Day.
Owner Linda Dunbar originally got her start in the sweets business when she was running Treasures On the Square, a restaurant which also sold candies. After selling the restaurant, she vowed to open a candy shop of her own.
“It has been pretty popular, since a lot of people know about it,” said Dunbar. “Our biggest problem is we hope we don’t run out of candy [for Valentine’s Day], because everybody will kind of wait until the last minute.”
The small pink and white shop is hard to miss, residing on Jackson Street just outside of town. But the outside of the store doesn’t do it justice. Walking inside, you’ll find yourself in candy paradise.
Phrases like “Chocolate is nature’s way of making up for Monday” and “Do not disturb chocolate fantasy in progress” line the walls while endless types of chocolate are packed into every corner of the shop.
Completely Nuts and Candies offers most of its treats by the pound
and in prepackaged bags. Many of the candies
are sporting pink and red colored chocolate
this week as a festive nod to Valentines Day.
SAM CARAVANA / THE DEPAUW
“The decor of the place was really cute,” said freshman David Freund. “It had this homey, Grandma’s house-like feel to it.”
With their original flavors of crèmes and chocolate truffle flavors along with the classic carmel turtle, Completely Nuts and Candies stands alone.
“We do have a lot of varieties of chocolates,” said Dunbar. “It’s really unusual for a lot of candy shops to have 21 different flavors of crèmes, because we’ve got some really…unusual ones.”
Some of these flavors include root beer, maple bacon and funky monkey, a crème made up of peanut butter, chocolate, and banana.
Although the store is only a little more than three months old, Dunbar already has her sights set on expanding the business.
“I think probably within the next six months we’ll have a location in Crawfordsville,” said Dunbar.
This expansion might open up possible job opportunities for DePauw students, but before this can happen, word needs to get around, said Dunbar.
“We have a lot of Greencastle folk [but] not a whole lot of DePauw kids yet. But I think once they find out we’re down here, that will change.”
Sophomore Elizabeth Morales is one of those students.
“I love candy, but I haven’t had the chance to go there yet,” Morales said. “It looks like a really pretty shop.”
For any guy in need of buying candy for his girl, Completely Nuts and Candies is the place to go.
Through Friday, the store will be open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and will be open on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. For more information, visit their Facebook page or call them at 765-720-2556.