It’s True, Love: Prepare for a Conversation Heart-less Valentine’s Day
But in this post-Necco world, Sky Bar has a new, local owner.
Photo via iStock / Candy sweet hearts for Valentine’s Day
Valentine’s Day is going to be a little less sweet in 2019. For the first time in more than 150 years, fresh boxes of Sweethearts candies—those ubiquitous, sweet or sassy “conversation hearts”—are not available. It’s a side effect of last year’s abrupt closure of the Necco candy factory in Revere. Though Spangler Candy bought the Sweethearts brand, the Ohio company wants to BE TRUE to the classic confection and not rush through production.
Though Spangler said in September that it wouldn’t produce candy hearts for the 2019 holiday, word spread this week—breaking hearts around the country. But candy lovers have good reason to believe the treat will return: Spangler seems pretty broken up about it, too.
Today, the company shared this image with Candystore.com:
“We wish we could have Sweethearts out for the 2019 Valentine season, but it’s just not possible,” Spangler said in an accompanying statement. “We are committed to making sure these brands meet consumer expectations when they re-enter the market. Doing it right takes time.”
Another bygone Necco product, however, is poised to return to the market in 2019. Sudbury business owner Louise Mawhinney just bought the Sky Bar brand at auction, and plans to relaunch the quirky chocolate bar late this year, the Boston Globe reports.
Mawhinney declined to share the selling price, but she told the Globe “it was a reasonable bid” to get the unique caramel, vanilla, peanut, and fudge bar’s recipe, the trademark, and access to Necco’s former vice president of research and development. Mawhinney, who owns Sudbury gourmet shop Duck Soup, plans to reproduce Sky Bars in smaller batches, so the retro-looking candy bar might not be as widely available as it once was. But it will LIVE 4 EVER—just like we hope Sweethearts Conversation Hearts will.
