Halloween is one sweet opening day for Mt. Airy candy shop

Ask Wendy Weinstein about her new candy shop in Mt. Airy and you’ll hear what can only be described as dizzying excitement.

“I look around it right now and it’s just happy,” she said.

Sugar Hill will have its grand opening on Friday — Halloween — a fitting day for the business a year in the making.

Throughout this week, the Conshohocken resident has been putting the finishing touches on the cozy, colorful storefront on East Durham Street, just off Germantown Avenue.

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The good old days

The shop is filled with items meant to reinforce the inspiration behind the old-fashioned style store: Nostalgia.

The green-and-white Hess trucks that line a long lip below the ceiling come from Weinstein’s father’s 30-year collection.

Some of the store’s candy containers were picked from a South Carolina barn owned by her boyfriend’s grandmother.

“When people walk into a place that reminds them of [their childhood], it just makes them feel good,” said Weinstein.

The candy at Sugar Hill is part of the picture, too. That goes for both the varieties and the price tag.

Candy buttons, caramels, pixie sticks, Mary Janes and Ring Pops are just some of the sweets that’ll be available — many for a quarter or less.

“Everything is so pricey these days, so it takes you back to when things weren’t,” said Weinstein.

Weinstein, a cancer survivor, will send a nickel for every dollar she earns to City of Hope, a national research organization.

Branching out

Sugar Hill is a true departure from the work Weinstein’s been doing for decades.

The 53-year-old started Ground Zero, a hair salon, in 1987. There are currently three locations, including one on Germantown Avenue just feet from the candy shop.

Weinstein said opening the candy store was quite the learning experience. She never had to work with the city’s Health Department and had no idea there’d be so many steps or that it could take so long to complete them.

It was all a bit frustrating.

“It might be a good idea for somebody to check out what the issues are,” she advised.

But with her business license now in hand, she’s no longer fretting the wait. Instead, she’s pouring all of her energy into preparing the shop for Final-ly Friday, a monthly event in Mt. Airy that brings family-fun entertainment to the Avenue and later store hours for local businesses.

Halloween is the final installment of 2014. The festivities run from 5 to 8 p.m.

Sugar Hill will, of course, be selling candy from the shop decked out for the holiday. Weinstein will also have a table on Germantown Avenue to hand out sweets to trick-or-treaters.

For her, it’ll be a truly tasty moment.

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