113-year-old business opens first storefront in 70 years, raises over $500 for Hurricane Florence victims
By Lauren Young
Staff writer
On Saturday, Oct. 13, over 400 people visited Hercules Candy Company during its grand opening day at its new storefront retail store in East Syracuse. It’s been over 70 years since the 113-year-old business operated from outside the home, and it was a feat that would not have been accomplished if it weren’t for the power of YouTube.
“It’s always been a dream of ours, but the only reason we were able to do it is because of our YouTube channel. If it wasn’t for that, we would not be standing here,” said Co-Owner Terry Andrianos at Hercules Candy’s new location at 720 W Manlius Street. Andrianos owns the business with husband Steve, just as his grandparents had over 100 years ago.
In January 2017, East Syracuse’s popular third-generation, family-run candy shop launched the Hercules Candy YouTube channel with their son Craig’s help, who runs his own successful vegan entertainment channel and documents his experience with chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP) — netting nearly 40,000 subscribers. If it were not for him, the shop would have remained a dream and not a reality, said Andrianos.
“If Craig never got sick, we wouldn’t be standing here in this awesome shop,” she said. “Things do have a purpose.”
To do something extra “special” for the grand opening, 10 percent of in-store sales were donated to the Red Cross to benefit Hurricane Florence victims — a way for customers to both support the shop and disaster victims simultaneously, said Andrianos.
“I thought a donation based on sales would be a nice thing to do,” she said.
At the end of the day, Andrianos said Hercules Candy raised $518 for Hurricane Florence victims.
Being YouTube-famous
As a mother of twins, Andrianos said opening the new Hercules Candy storefront was “like having triplets — overwhelming.”
For years, Hercules Candy made and sold candy out of their West Heman Street home in East Syracuse; candy was sold on the first floor and made in the basement. Now, they operate out of a 3,700-square foot space, selling chocolate and other candies, and allowing customers to watch them make it through a glass window. They make candy the way it was made in the early 1900s — all by hand and without machines.
Steve Andrianos’ grandfather, Robert, started Hercules Candy in 1905 with his two brothers in East Syracuse. It operated for 24 years in the village until the Great Depression hurt sales and operations moved to the family household at 209 W. Heman St. Another storefront was attempted during the 1950s, but soon returned to the Heman Street house once more.
When the business launched its YouTube channel in January 2017, uploading videos about twice a week to document the candy-making process and its humorous daily operations, it began reaching viewers from not only across New York, but nationally and even globally. On Oct. 3, the business earned 100,000 subscribers during a livestream video — earning the Silver Play Button plaque from YouTube.
Andrianos said she felt was “pretty happy” about winning the title, although subscribes teased them by unsubscribing and re-subscribing toward the end of their livestream to be the 100,00th subscriber.
“Since then it’s been exponential,” she said. “We’re already over 130,000 [subscribers].”
Though the channel has only been up for a year and a half, Andrianos said sales have increased dramatically, including international shipping orders to places like Canada and the U.K. When a livestream video was filmed for its cashew brittle, for example, the shop sold out that day, she said.
“The YouTube channel has really been pushing our shipping,” she said. “We’ve only been here for a month, and I would say our online sales are four times our Brick and Mortar sales.”
Customers in the U.K., for example, pay about $85 in shipping, but buy from Hercules Candy because of its YouTube presence and relatability, said Andrianos.
“It’s crazy,” she said, but customers pay the price because “they really like what we do, and because they feel like we’re real, genuine people,” she said.
New place, new candies
Though hundreds visited the candy store’s new location throughout the day on Saturday, Andrianos said the business “kept it low-key,” only advertising its grand opening on Facebook.
“It’s been off the hook,” said Andrianos as she unloaded boxed chocolates from a cart with wheels, one of the many new perks of the store.
“Everything was up and down the stairs [before],” she said, adding that she did not miss the old place, “not even a little bit.”
Her favorite things about the new place include the white and pink checkered floors, the open space, a wider area for the assorted chocolates and a wrapping station near the registers, where used to be in a separate room before.
“The best thing about this place is the robust temperature control,” she said. Though they had air conditioning at the last location, this new location also has humidity control, which she said is “a big deal for making any of the sugar-based candies, hard candies and peanut brittle.”
“Those are items we didn’t even make at our other place,” she said.
Since last mid-November, Hercules Candy made around 600 pounds of brittles — and are almost sold out. By comparison, anywhere from 40 to 100 pounds of candy is produced daily.
The shop also started making its hard candy pillows, an old-fashioned candy, normally not sold until mid-November, but had already sold out of its batches on opening day.
According to its website, the chocolate covered potato chips and the assorted chocolates are its best sellers.
Hercules Candy in East Syracuse is open Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Hours will increase after Thanksgiving, where it will be open until 8 p.m. on weekends and 6 p.m. on Saturdays.
To learn more about Hercules Candy or to buy chocolates and other candies online, visit Herculescandy.com
