Ottawa, Morris candy stores satisfy any sweet tooth

The saying “like a kid in a candy store” isn’t exactly accurate for specialty candy stores. That’s because they’re not just catering to children.

“We’re here to make everybody happy. Everybody can be a kid in a candy store. It’s literally our tagline,” said Kevin Orf, who owns Sweet Tooth in downtown Morris with his wife, Tarra. “We’re hoping this is the best time they had all day, that the hardest decision they had to make all day was picking out the kind of candy they want to bring home.”

Sweet Tooth caters to the young with TikTok trends and the young at heart with nostalgic candy.

“We have everything from gourmet chocolate to fudge to ice cream – just about any kind of candy you can possibly imagine,” Orf said.

The Orfs purchased the candy store in 2021, and they had to do their homework on the candy industry and running a small business. Orf’s background is in corporate careers.

“I started looking for [a new job] and took the first family vacation we had taken in a long time. We ended up out in Wisconsin Dells. We went to a candy shop there, and the experience was less than fantastic,” he said, noting that it was during the COVID-19 pandemic when they visited. “We came back into town, went to the Sweet Tooth, where we had been many times, and saw a sign on the door that said the place was for sale. It was one of those moments where the sun seemed to shine directly on that spot at that moment.”

Sweet Tooth had been open for more than 15 years when they bought it. A few years later, they’ve learned the ins and outs of the business and what brings people through the door.

“We have a wide variety, which is something that attracts a lot of people,” he said. “It’s basically the best ice cream you’re going to get in town. The best popcorn you’re going to get locally in general. It’s all made on-site, it’s all gourmet.

“Plenty of things like that. I really feel like the thing that separates us the most is the customer service you won’t get anywhere else.”

Their sons, 19-year-old Liam and 13-year-old Mason, help with the store when they’re available. Customers come on a daily or weekly basis to get their favorite goodies.

“We’ve gotten to know a lot of people we would likely otherwise never have met and that have become essentially friends of ours,” Orf said.

Hey Sweetie owner Stephanie Cato is a little newer to the candy industry. The mother of eight has two daughters who help her in the store, which she wanted to open to fill a gap in downtown Ottawa.

“I absolutely love it, but it is different,” she said, referring to her past working in the boutique business.

She’s sold clothing, home decor and antiques at vendor pop-ups, but candy was new territory, so she did her homework before opening last spring in downtown Ottawa. While summers were slower months for her before, now she’s busy because it’s ice cream season. Her most popular flavors are Tiger King, which is orange-colored cake batter ice cream with frosting and an Oreo cookies swirl, and Kryptonite, blue razz ice cream with a vanilla swirl.

While ice cream is popular in the summer months, customers like to stroll the rest of the store and see what they’ll find.

“You could probably walk around slowly and then walk around another time and see something you missed,” Cato said of the selection.

She said every candy store will find its own niche.

“You’ll get the strangest things. You’ll think you’re not sure, and then it sells out like crazy,” she said, citing Dr. Pepper in a glass bottle and Dubai chocolate pistachio bars, a TikTok trend, as examples.

A few candy store owners helped her when she was opening, so she was sure to pass along the tip about the Dubai chocolate bars.

When she was opening, she said the owners of Candy and Corn in Minooka and Raffy’s Candy Store in New Lenox mentored her. She received advice on how to make chocolate-covered strawberries, among other tips to help her acclimate.

Each candy store is unique, however, and has to find its own niche. Hey Sweetie has been no different, she said.

She carries a wide variety to have something for everyone. Popular items include saltwater taffy, gourmet chocolate, freeze-dried candy, popcorn, specialty soda and nostalgic candy, among other items.

“I want everybody in all price ranges to be able to come in and afford a sweet treat, or bring their kid in for a reward – whatever it may be,” she said.

For more information, visit sweettoothmorris.com or Hey Sweetie’s Facebook page.