Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in 2019, but gift shop hours have been updated at the bottom.
You can smell it before you see it. Outside the entrance to the oldest continuously operating candy company in the United States, the air is thick sweet scent of sugar.
Founded by Claus Doscher, a young German immigrant, Newtown’s Doscher’s Candy Co. began as Doscher Bros. Wholesale Confectioners and first opened on East Fifth Street downtown near where the Taft Theatre stands today. Operations later moved to a factory on Central Parkway before relocating again in 1946 to 24 W. Court St., where the company remained for 71 years.
In 2017, Doscher’s expanded from their cramped downtown offices into a farmhouse that seems like it was pulled straight out of a storybook — delicate white trim surrounds pale-yellow brick, the doors are painted a bright cherry red and a pair of chimneys poke out of the roof.
The house was built in 1835 as a private home, but it looks like it was destined to become a candy store. Doscher’s newest location not only has enough room for the factory and offices, but also a retail store and quaint tea room, which is currently closed due to the pandemic.
The candy shop sells a variety of made-in-house goods, like their famous French Chew taffy, caramels or Candy Buttons they acquired from NECCO in 2018. They’re also the oldest candy cane producer in the country.
Doscher’s begins churning out peppermint candy canes in the early summer to fill orders for the holiday season, as well as flavors that have year-round appeal like blueberry, green apple and the ever-popular birthday cake.
Greg Clark, who’s been a part of the team since 2003, functions as Doscher’s vice president of business development and one of its owning partners. According to Clark, who learned the art of old-fashioned candy making from founder Claus’ great-grandson Henry Doscher when he came on board, “The handmade approach the Doschers had and the careful craftsmanship of making candy is hard to learn. And learning it from the best, Mr. Doscher, who had been doing it his whole life, was just incredibly valuable.”
The gift shop is currently open 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, and guests can also place their orders online and pick them up at their shop.
Doscher’s Candy Co., 6926 Main St., Newtown.
This article appears in The Holiday Issue.