With Easter Sunday plans upended, candy makes everything sweeter
SEATTLE -- Easter Sunday is only a few days away, but the owners of locally owned candy shops in Seattle said their sales have been doing well for weeks.
“Candy makes everything sweeter,” said Kristi Holmes with The Confectionary in University Village.
Holmes said Covid-19 started impacting their business just as the shop got all of its Easter candy inventory.
Holmes and a few of her remaining employees have been selling jelly beans, eggs and chocolate rabbits and more for a few weeks through curbside pickup and by shipping packages of candy.
“I miss the customers, seeing everybody,” said Holmes. “We have customers that come in every season for different things, and seeing the kids and just hearing the noise and catching up.”
Over in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood, Sweet Mickey’s Candy Shoppe said the Easter holiday is by far their biggest time of the year.
“A lot of people look forward to the Easter basket full of candy,” said Randy Brinker, owner of Sweet Mickey’s. “It’s bigger than Christmas, it’s bigger than Valentine’s Day and it’s bigger than the summer.”
Brinker said Easter basket orders have been going so well, he only has a few remaining.
“When you look at it you just want to smile, and I think it makes them feel good to support our business and also to do something for a friend or a neighbor or a senior,” said Brinker.
Easter Sunday is a special time for families, and some of the annual traditions will have to wait until next year.
Sheryl Wingate in Kitsap County said her family has been staying in a hotel room for seven weeks after a water leak in their house.
Covid-19 delayed the repair work, and now the three of them will spend Easter out of their home.
“We’ve really just embraced that we’re all stuck in one room, and if one person’s having a bad day it kind of turns all of us around so we all have had a good attitude,” said Wingate.
Wingate said her family will also be supporting local business by ordering in an Easter feast.
She said most of all, they will miss spending time with their extended family and friends. “People. I love people! That camaraderie and to be honest, I just miss home cooked food in general right now.”
The Confectionary and Sweet Mickey’s have been taking orders over the phone and email.