You want what you can't have....the demise of the Clark Bars
I remember walking up to my drug store in Cleveland as kid to buy a Clark Bar. ( my favorite all-time candy bar) One of the few regrets about moving out to the West Coast was that Clark Bars never seem to have made it out West. Occasionally one could find it at an obscure gas station when traveling....I was royally dismayed to see the Necco Candy Company, which made the Clark Bar, went out of business this week. Suddenly I HAD to have one although it has been years since I even thought of them.
Unfortunately a box of 24 on Amazon went from $20 to over $100 overnight when the news spread the company that makes them closed. Now ever single online candy store is " out-of -stock." " But good news.........I did find 5 bars at our local candy store on their " retro" shelf. I guess the news of the plant closing didn't hit our little island yet. |
Originally Posted by david55
(Post 30029942)
I remember walking up to my drug store in Cleveland as kid to buy a Clark Bar. ( my favorite all-time candy bar) One of the few regrets about moving out to the West Coast was that Clark Bars never seem to have made it out West. Occasionally one could find it at an obscure gas station when traveling....I was royally dismayed to see the Necco Candy Company, which made the Clark Bar, went out of business this week. Suddenly I HAD to have one although it has been years since I even thought of them.
Unfortunately a box of 24 on Amazon went from $20 to over $100 overnight when the news spread the company that makes them closed. Now ever single online candy store is " out-of -stock." " But good news.........I did find 5 bars at our local candy store on their " retro" shelf. I guess the news of the plant closing didn't hit our little island yet. I get it, some people prefer Twinkies, some prefer Zingers, but as Clark bars are no more... |
Originally Posted by anrkitec
(Post 30030012)
Have you ever tried either Butterfinger or Fifth Avenue bars? There isn't a whole lot to differentiate between the three.
Production of the Clark bar itself has been "shut down" a few times in the past, so let's see what happens from the company that purchased the rights. Round Hill Investments LLC announced it is selling its Necco brands to an unidentified confection manufacturer |
The original Cambridge NECCO factory and HQ is now a major biomedical research facility. I would be nostalgic for the NECCO stuff (not that I ever ate it), but I do miss the smell of sweets emanating from the factory as a memory of my youth. And there's nothing wrong with a biomedical research facility, really.
https://cambridgehistory.org/candy/necco.html |
The real problem with all this is that it's hard to be an independent candy maker and get distribution because of all the consolidation to either Hershey or M&M/Mars. Maybe you can go high-end and try to crack a place like Walgreen's (the Ghirardelli route), but you need something with staying power, and in a consolidation environment "success" can mean an offer to buy your brand out, but if you refuse the spurned acquirer could come up with a copycat and try to run you out (like Krackel bars vs. Nestle crunch, though Nestle is big enough globally to hang in there).
There was a lot more diversity when I was 5 or 6 years old and could ride my bike to the 7-Eleven. Milk Shake bars were a real fave. I liked the Spree rolls and Necco wafers, and the Chuckles were good as well. I remember taking the Motown tour in Detroit about 13 years ago. In the old office they had a (non-active) preserved vending machine from 1967-ish with the pull knobs and Milk Shake, Chuckles and 3 other candy types from then in the window. |
Still available in the U.K.
Prices are the standard import inflated, but not to a ridiculous degree. |
Originally Posted by anrkitec
(Post 30030012)
Have you ever tried either Butterfinger or Fifth Avenue bars? There isn't a whole lot to differentiate between the three.
I get it, some people prefer Twinkies, some prefer Zingers, but as Clark bars are no more... https://www.ehow.com/info_8333354_di...terfinger.html |
Originally Posted by Pickles
(Post 30030485)
The original Cambridge NECCO factory and HQ is now a major biomedical research facility. I would be nostalgic for the NECCO stuff (not that I ever ate it), but I do miss the smell of sweets emanating from the factory as a memory of my youth. And there's nothing wrong with a biomedical research facility, really.
https://cambridgehistory.org/candy/necco.html I don't think the Necco story is over. I haven't seen a Sky Bar in many years but if I did, I would be tempted to buy one. Necco wafers and sweetshearts could still be found here in Florida at one of the dollar store chains. Maybe I should take a look at lunch and decide whether to invest in some if they haven't all been scooped up. |
Originally Posted by BamaVol
(Post 30031783)
I don't think the Necco story is over. I haven't seen a Sky Bar in many years but if I did, I would be tempted to buy one. Necco wafers and sweetshearts could still be found here in Florida at one of the dollar store chains. Maybe I should take a look at lunch and decide whether to invest in some if they haven't all been scooped up.
They were a pretty good metric for determining which girl was interested in you. One Sweetheart taped to your card - 'don't even talk to me, I had to give you this'. Two - 'wanna sit next to each other at lunch?' Three - 'let's meet behind the gym at recess'. |
Get them on Amazon! |
Originally Posted by anrkitec
(Post 30031879)
I haven't seen sweethearts [they're the ones with little phrases printed on them, right?] since grade school, where we Scotch taped them to the Valentine's Day cards we were required to give to one another.
They were a pretty good metric for determining which girl was interested in you. One Sweetheart taped to your card - 'don't even talk to me, I had to give you this'. Two - 'wanna sit next to each other at lunch?' Three - 'let's meet behind the gym at recess'. I spent a couple minutes on the Necco Wikipedia page and was surprised at their other products. I'm aging myself here, but the corner store sold penny candy when I was a kid and three Necco items were 2 for a penny: Mint Juleps, Banana Splits and Mary Janes. All three of which could remove a filling from your tooth with no difficulty. |
Originally Posted by david55
(Post 30029942)
I remember walking up to my drug store in Cleveland as kid to buy a Clark Bar. ( my favorite all-time candy bar) One of the few regrets about moving out to the West Coast was that Clark Bars never seem to have made it out West. .
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Originally Posted by RustyC
(Post 30030628)
Milk Shake bars were a real fave.
Originally Posted by BamaVol
(Post 30031783)
I haven't seen a Sky Bar in many years but if I did, I would be tempted to buy one.
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Originally Posted by ShopAround
(Post 30032519)
Sky Bar was always special to me because my grandmother used to buy them for me when I was a child. Cracker Barrel usually has them in their shops and on the rare occasion I'd get to one (there isn't a Cracker Barrel within 40 miles from my home, AFAIK), I'd always buy a Sky Bar for old time's sake.
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Originally Posted by BamaVol
(Post 30032793)
It would take more than a Sky Bar to get me into Cracker Barrel these days.
As an aside, an acquaintance who is a city manager in a town where Cracker Barrel opened, and for nearly three years had a half hour wait for that entire time until they abruptly closed, said the company told him they closed because people in that area weren't buying enough crap in the gift shop. Apocryphal perhaps, but having been there a couple of times and watched people lap that crap up - the tchotchkes, not the food - I wouldn't doubt it. |
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