Read Online Candyfreak: A Journey Through the Chocolate Underbelly of America by Steve Almond - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Steve Almond
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Canada or Mexico and ship them back to the United States for sale.
Given the economic landscape, I wondered if any company, other than the Big Three, could ever introduce a new candy bar to the mainstream market?
Echeandia laughed. “There are easier ways to commit suicide,” she said. “And it’s a great pity, too, because people have an emotional relationship to candy. They get very shaken up if their favorite brand disappears.” Echeandia herself used to travel to Canada to find childhood favorites such as the Crunchy Bar and the Violet Crumble.
THE LAST MAN IN AMERICA WITH BLACK JACK GUM
For further evidence, one needed look no further than the Internet, the last refuge of the obsessive, where a crop of companies had popped up to serve the emerging nostalgia candy market. The first and most prominent of these, CandyDirect.com, peddled a variety of sweets that had become hard to find retail. It was really a freak depot. This was most apparent on the site’s message board, which was flooded with notes from folks desperately seeking some candy from their youth. I found myself deeply touched by these outbursts, which reassured me I was not alone in my freakdom. A few outtakes:
For the last 23 years or so I have had Malted Milk Eggs from Brach’s. I need my Eggs. Where are they? I have looked in every drug store, every food store, and the local farmers market I can not find them anywhere. Please help with my withdralls [sic]. I think all the time about the egg in my mouth sucking the candy shell off then letting the chocolate melt in my mouth, then when it gets to the malted part you just let it dosolve [ uh , sic] in your mouth .
Well, I guess this is my last attempt!! I’ve tried to get any info regarding a gumball called “Zappers” No help from anyone. Last try!! Please help with even sharing just a memory .
HELP ME, PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!! I NEED TO FIND ORANGE BUBBLE YUM BUBBLE GUM. NOT SHERBERT. ORANGE. I HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR 2 YEARS. THIS IS MY BOYFRIENDS FAVORITE. IF I FIND IT HE MAY ASK ME TO MARRY HIM. IF YOU HAVE ANY INFO, PLEASE PLEASE CONTACT ME!!!!!
CandyDirect.com was the brainchild of a fellow named Steve Traino, a 34-year-old native of Rochester, New York, and the most authentically American human being to whom I have ever spoken. I mean this as a compliment. He had wanted to be an entrepreneur his entire life. At age eight, he sold handdrawn mazes to his classmates for a dime. Later, he ran a garage sale business, buying and reselling his neighbors’ junk and splitting the profit with them. After graduating from college with a degree in business, he opened a frozen yogurt shop, which soon went under. He returned home to live with his parents and eventually drifted to San Diego, where he worked for Xerox and, later, for a couple of high-tech companies. He continued to harbor the dream of every conscientious American: to launch a business and become filthy rich.
Traino’s decision to start CandyDirect.com was based on his stint as a Pop Rocks black marketeer back in the seventies. He, too, bought boxes of the candy in California and resold them at school. He even snagged the Poprocks.com domain name in 1996, though he never used it, fearing he’d get sued for copyright infringement. Instead, he broadened his scope to include all manner of rare candies.
“The hits were kind of slow at first,” Traino recalled. “Luckily, I had a shower in the office.”
“Wait a second,” I said, “you had a shower in your office?”
“Actually, the shower was down the hall.”
“So you lived in your office?”
“I tried to be kind of subtle about it, because I didn’t want the landlords to find out. But they must have known. I mean, here I am, walking down the hall with my hair all wet.” Traino chuckled softly. “I had a front part where the business was and a little room in back where I had my futon and a TV. I had satellite TV. It was right in Mission Valley, which is a really nice part of
Given the economic landscape, I wondered if any company, other than the Big Three, could ever introduce a new candy bar to the mainstream market?
Echeandia laughed. “There are easier ways to commit suicide,” she said. “And it’s a great pity, too, because people have an emotional relationship to candy. They get very shaken up if their favorite brand disappears.” Echeandia herself used to travel to Canada to find childhood favorites such as the Crunchy Bar and the Violet Crumble.
THE LAST MAN IN AMERICA WITH BLACK JACK GUM
For further evidence, one needed look no further than the Internet, the last refuge of the obsessive, where a crop of companies had popped up to serve the emerging nostalgia candy market. The first and most prominent of these, CandyDirect.com, peddled a variety of sweets that had become hard to find retail. It was really a freak depot. This was most apparent on the site’s message board, which was flooded with notes from folks desperately seeking some candy from their youth. I found myself deeply touched by these outbursts, which reassured me I was not alone in my freakdom. A few outtakes:
For the last 23 years or so I have had Malted Milk Eggs from Brach’s. I need my Eggs. Where are they? I have looked in every drug store, every food store, and the local farmers market I can not find them anywhere. Please help with my withdralls [sic]. I think all the time about the egg in my mouth sucking the candy shell off then letting the chocolate melt in my mouth, then when it gets to the malted part you just let it dosolve [ uh , sic] in your mouth .
Well, I guess this is my last attempt!! I’ve tried to get any info regarding a gumball called “Zappers” No help from anyone. Last try!! Please help with even sharing just a memory .
HELP ME, PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!! I NEED TO FIND ORANGE BUBBLE YUM BUBBLE GUM. NOT SHERBERT. ORANGE. I HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR 2 YEARS. THIS IS MY BOYFRIENDS FAVORITE. IF I FIND IT HE MAY ASK ME TO MARRY HIM. IF YOU HAVE ANY INFO, PLEASE PLEASE CONTACT ME!!!!!
CandyDirect.com was the brainchild of a fellow named Steve Traino, a 34-year-old native of Rochester, New York, and the most authentically American human being to whom I have ever spoken. I mean this as a compliment. He had wanted to be an entrepreneur his entire life. At age eight, he sold handdrawn mazes to his classmates for a dime. Later, he ran a garage sale business, buying and reselling his neighbors’ junk and splitting the profit with them. After graduating from college with a degree in business, he opened a frozen yogurt shop, which soon went under. He returned home to live with his parents and eventually drifted to San Diego, where he worked for Xerox and, later, for a couple of high-tech companies. He continued to harbor the dream of every conscientious American: to launch a business and become filthy rich.
Traino’s decision to start CandyDirect.com was based on his stint as a Pop Rocks black marketeer back in the seventies. He, too, bought boxes of the candy in California and resold them at school. He even snagged the Poprocks.com domain name in 1996, though he never used it, fearing he’d get sued for copyright infringement. Instead, he broadened his scope to include all manner of rare candies.
“The hits were kind of slow at first,” Traino recalled. “Luckily, I had a shower in the office.”
“Wait a second,” I said, “you had a shower in your office?”
“Actually, the shower was down the hall.”
“So you lived in your office?”
“I tried to be kind of subtle about it, because I didn’t want the landlords to find out. But they must have known. I mean, here I am, walking down the hall with my hair all wet.” Traino chuckled softly. “I had a front part where the business was and a little room in back where I had my futon and a TV. I had satellite TV. It was right in Mission Valley, which is a really nice part of
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