Business & Tech
Downtown St. Charles Business Celebrates 40 Years
Warehouse Antique Shoppe & Confectionary opened its doors in 1972 and is linked to the founding of what today is the Downtown St. Charles Partnership, which is in its 20th year.
The Warehouse Antique Shoppe & Confectionary offers what they call “a taste of memory.”
Located at Riverside and Cedar Avenue in the Century Corners district of downtown St. Charles, The Warehouse is the downtown’s second most-tenured store, second only to Blue Goose Market.
Peggy Spear and her late husband, Jim, became the second owners of the building in 1972, and they began building their antique business, which is in its 40th year.
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The Spears’ daughter, Mari, remembers that, as a child, she barely could see over the counter of the front register, and she recalls going to the Candy Jar as a child to buy candy and chocolate. In about 1982, Mari and husband Alec Wittum, while both still in college, rented space from Mari’s parents and opened the Confectionery.
“You can’t buy a Hershey bar here,” says Alec. The Confectionery prides itself on offering nostalgic, novelty candy and hand-dipped chocolates. Wittum says that over the years, stocking these tasty bites of nostalgia has become increasingly difficult; some manufacturers have closed or have stopped producing certain products. The intention behind the candy store is to give people memories, the couple say, and help people reconnect with their youth. Hundreds of varieties line the candy room, from Satellite Wafers, Rock Candy, Licorice Pipes, Mary Jane’s, to Pop Rocks.
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The antiques beautifully line the perimeter of the other rooms. Making their way into the mix are some seasonal fall and a few Halloween decorations. For the first time, planning is under way for a Christmas Workshop with antique Christmas and holiday items.
The Warehouse has overcome challenges over the years — one of the more recent being the growing consumer demand for more practical pieces — antiques with a purpose, such as a side table. Other challenges include the low margin of the confectionary business, changing product, keeping up with the economy, and trying to survive the antique business in the age of the Internet.
Beginning in the early 1990s, the Warehouse also was involved heavily with other businesses in a multiyear battle with the Illinois Department of Transportation to keep reduced speeds in downtown St. Charles. The proposed speed limit increase might have had an adverse impact on downtown businesses if the community had not spoken out.
Spear’s daughter, Mari, was a founding member of the board of directors for the Friends of Downtown Partnership — today known as the Downtown St. Charles Partnership. The Downtown St. Charles Partnership is celebrating its 20th year, thanks to the continued support of the downtown business community and its volunteers.
The Warehouse Antiques Shoppe & Confectionary, 16 N. Riverside Ave., welcomes visitors to stop by and relive a memory. Warehouse Confectionary is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. For more information, call 630-584-6368.
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