First reported 8/3/2010 4:26 p.m.
Six years after the two Fannie May candy stores in Oak Park shut down, the retailer is returning to the village.
Fannie May – known for its Pixies and Mint Meltaways – is close to signing a lease for the empty retail space at 1020 Lake, the company said last week. The 700-square-foot storefront is located just east of the Lake Theatre and was home to United Colors of Benetton, a clothier that closed in May after 20 years in business.
The candy company plans to open the new store by mid-October, in time for Halloween. It will be across the street from one former Fannie May location in downtown Oak Park, and a few blocks west of another old location at the southeast corner of Lake and Oak Park Avenue (now a Caribou Coffee).
“The foot traffic in that area seems very strong,” said Ed Fitzpatrick, vice president of retail operations. “I think that’s a great location for Fannie May.”
The long-shuttered shop at 1025 Lake was the oldest retail location in the candy store’s chain and was also the oldest continuously running business in downtown Oak Park. It closed suddenly after 68 years in business, giving way to Ben & Jerry’s.
The two Oak Park stores were shuttered in 2003 and 2004 after Fannie May’s parent company filed for bankruptcy. Alpine Confections won the rights to its intellectual properties shortly after, and has since reopened 48 old locations and built 32 new ones, Fitzpatrick said. Fannie May is opening eight new stores around Chicago – also in Wilmette, Deerfield and Algonquin – and is looking to have 90 total by Christmas.
Fitzpatrick says the new store will offer assorted boxes of candy, nuts, gummy bears, and ice cream with bits of their candies mixed in.
Willis Johnson, owner of the property along with Lake Theatre, wouldn’t comment on the new Fannie May location until an agreement was reached, which was still in the works as of Monday.
“Nothing is certain until the lease is signed,” he said.