I recently became aware of this magical Candy Store in MN. that had all of these wonderful displays… so I invited Clayton Wagner to show it all off… and here is all he shared…
“Here is a picture of the room. If you zoom you can see we have large models of the Star Trek Borg Cube, Starship Enterprise in Space Dock, Star Wars Death Star, Naboo Star Fighter, and Millennium Falcon, just to name a few. They are displayed in our Family’s Candy Store in Jordan Minnesota…which is the largest in Minnesota!”
“It has been a fun project over the course of a couple years. Some of the items are custom. Some purchased off eBay.
Mike Garland built The Dark Astor, Death Star, and the Borg Cube.
Model Ship Masters built the Starship Enterprise.
Mid-county Fabricating built the Space Dock for the USS Enterprise.
River Bottom Studios painted the background wall/ceiling art.
Robert Wagner built the TARDIS
We also have random purchased items from eBay, like the Millennium Falcon, Naboo Fighter, X-Wing, and TIE Fighter.”
Modeler Magic (me,..Kurt Kuhn) then inquired to know the backstory of this wonderful place, and Clayton responded…
“Our family business started as strictly a roadside apple stand when my grandfather returned from WWII and planted the first farmed apple trees in the Minnesota River Valley. After a few decades, in the 1970s he moved locations down the road to where the candy store now sits. It expanded beyond just a shack with a few sheets of plywood, to an actual barn, selling Fall season produce as well as having a small gift shop and bakery. That went on for about 20 years, with the only “full time” employees being him and my grandma. In the early 2000’s my father left his traditional corporate owned company job and joined up with my grandfather. At that time our primary revenue came from our 4 Apple orchards in the Belle Plaine and Jordan. Around that time we experienced three years straight of poor apple crop. Hail, frost, and again hail, all decimating our crop and thus our revenue. I was only an early teenager but can remember the stress it caused my dad. Anyway, after those bad seasons we decided to diversify. Along came candy. It started with a single 4 foot by 8 foot display table of candy and within a few years it became the primary revenue source for the business. We expanded to incorporate any sort of candy we could get ahold of to sell, and beyond. We now sell around 10,000 different varieties of candy and other tasty treats, 1,000 varieties of soda, and 5,000 different “images” of jigsaw puzzles. To say candy took off is an understatement. For a long time however, the boring old apple barn remained, with plain white ceiling and walls. The dabble into unique decorations started about 5 years ago and I’ve been fortunate to play a role in that aspect of the family business’s expansion. We have a few different themed areas of the store now. With rooms themed: princess/fairytale, superhero, fantasy outer space, cloud/air/sky, and underwater. It has been a blast working with local artists to paint the murals, model builders to create the decorations, lighting artists to bring the rooms alive, and engineers to make it all move. Though it’s a smaller remodel than years past, the 2021 season will be a magic themed expansion. I forgot to mention, as we are still follow the apple growing season (a layover from our roots), we are only open from Mother’s Day weekend to Thanksgiving weekend each year. Hence when you see the images I sent, there are lots of boxes and pallets cluttering up the space since we are not open again until May.”
Clayton Wagner
Minnesota’s LARGEST Candy Store!
Jordan, Minnesota
USA
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Robert Wagner
USA
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Mike Garland
USA
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Southern California
USA
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Jordan, Minnesota
USA
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River Bottom Studio
Jessica Barnd
USA
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