The Port Clinton Peanut Shop, a candy mecca in a town of 300 people, is Schuylkill County's answer to Willy Wonka's factory. Manager Missy Swenk dishes on candy corn (love it) and COVID (hate it).
Photos courtesy of Jacqueline Dormer
Originally published in the Pottsville Republican-Herald on February 7, 2021
PORT CLINTON — Missy Swenk doesn’t cry over spilled jimmies.
The manager of the Port Clinton Peanut Shop accidentally dumped a few of what she calls jimmies (but much of America calls sprinkles) while making candy-coated strawberries.
“That’s just an average day here at the candy shop,” Swenk, of Bechtelsville, Berks County, said.
For far longer than Swenk has been working there, the Port Clinton Peanut Shop has been a sugary oasis nestled in the mountains, a land of sweets that has enchanted visitors for decades.
“I can’t reveal all my secrets,” Swenk said, “but we shop many different places, and we’ve been in this business for over 50 years.”
Swenk was sitting in her cluttered office, the end of a labyrinth of candy, chocolate, fudge and 50-pound bags of peanuts. In a typical week, she travels between three counties to buy candy. She is hard at work making peanut rolls, chocolate turtles, candy bark, caramel corn, potato candy, chocolate-covered bacon and dipped chocolates. Each week, as Swenk stirs, dips and decorates her confections, the store roasts 500 pounds of peanuts.
“It’s a labor of love,” she said. “You lose track of time to make everything for everyone. It’s something you have to love to do.”
With Valentine’s Day on the horizon, peanuts take a back seat to chocolate-covered strawberries and “gourmet” chocolate-covered pretzels topped with candy and cookies.
“They’re like little adventures,” Swenk said, because of the added layers of flavor.
The Port Clinton Peanut Shop
Every taste satisfied
The Peanut Shop caters to every romantic taste. Lollipops with worms, ants and crickets inside were on top of the conversation hearts and Valentine’s candy. There are Belgian chocolate roses, Himalayan pink salted chocolate, candy cigarettes and chocolate cigars, Coconut Long Boys, Abba-Zabas, Sugar Daddies and Sugar Babies. There are dozens of jelly beans, and even a “jelly bean prayer.” (“Black is for the sins we made.”)
Valentine’s Day “can be hit or miss,” Swenk said. It all depends on what day of the week on which the holiday falls.
This year, Valentine’s Day is on a Sunday — jackpot. Sunday is the end of a long weekend of potential customers doing last-minute shopping. If it was on a Wednesday, business would be much slower. During this busy time of year, demand is high. Swenk needs to keep backup peanut rolls.
“You have to be a jack of many trades,” she said. “You have to be able to decorate, you have to be crafty, you have to be artistic, you have to be business-minded and you have to be happy, because candy is something that makes people happy.”
“They’ve got a hell of a variety,” Dennis Gouldy, of Emmaus, said.
He and his wife, Debbie, go out of their way to visit. On Saturday, they were buying Valentine’s Day gifts for their grandchildren.
“They’ve got the best variety of any candy store I’ve been to,” Dennis said. “They’re good people.”
The staff also laugh at his jokes, which means a lot to him.
“When you shop there,” Debbie said, “you feel like you’re helping out a neighbor, as opposed to filling a millionaire’s pocket.”
Swenk has worked in the Peanut Shop since 1998. Her family used to travel with the circus, selling popcorn and cotton candy. She first learned how to make fudge when she was in her 30s. Her favorite food is steak, but she has an encyclopedic knowledge of what candy is “in” or “out” during a given season. Tiny Tarts and Wacky Wafers are making a comeback, but she is dismayed that candy corn is not as popular as it used to be.
“That’s an experience,” she said. “You can’t give up on candy corn.”
Swenk is “freaked out” by the variety of licorice, which comes from Holland, Germany and Finland. In Europe, salty licorice is all the rage. Swenk believes that the stuff is best left to the “licorice buffs.”
Location key
The Peanut Shop’s location on Route 61, and the middle of the Appalachian Trail, has been crucial to its success.
“Word of mouth travels,” Swenk said, “and we actually sell our candy all over the country.”
She has served tourists from Germany, Australia and Switzerland. Her website recently received traffic from Mumbai, India. Due to COVID-19, the store has only a third of its usual business, despite curbside candy pickup.
Last summer, the hikers and vacationers who keep the Peanut Shop afloat stayed home. Easter, the busiest time of year for candy makers and when the Peanut Shop is usually “a madhouse,” became a shadow of its former self.
“We made the best of it,” Swenk said. “We enjoyed making baskets for people.”
What has kept the Peanut Shop alive is its devotion to tradition. Swenk compares candy to pizza — you can get it pretty much anywhere, but some shops care more about quality than others.
Much of the candy, which Swenk calls “a blast from the past,” has disappeared from store shelves. For those who remember Bit-o-Honey and Atomic Fireballs, the Peanut Shop is the last bastion.
Swenk thinks the 50-year-old peanut roaster’s age makes the nuts taste better.
“There’s not a whole lot of spending money in the candy business,” she said. “You have to make do with what you have.”
Despite these setbacks, Swenk is ready for Valentine’s Day.
“If the weather holds up and the people are hungry,” she said, the Port Clinton Peanut Shop will be there.