BRUNSWICK

When you walk into Maine Street Sweets, Brunswick’s newest candy joint located downtown, there’s a sense of an older, simpler age that immediately takes over the senses.

From the classic radio playing bubbly 1930s tunes like Fred Astaire’s “Cheek to Cheek” to the old typewriter sitting on the untreated wood shelves intermingled with jelly beans and turkish taffy, Maine Street Sweets is just as much about nostalgia as it is about candy.

“Our motto on our sign says ‘Remember When’ for a reason,” said Julie Marshall, an accountant with a business degree who recently started Maine Street Sweets along with her husband, Paul Giggey.

“Everybody has said ‘remember when’ at some point in their lives,” said Giggey. “We want to make this place a destination, a trip down memory lane.”

Marshall and Giggey, both in their 50s, have collected art and classic trinkets for most of their lives. Both also have fond memories of vintage candy stores that seemed to disappear over the past few decades as larger corporations and online dispensaries took over candy sales. One of Marshall’s fondest memories is when she would buy Jelly Bellies for her kids when they were little.

“I started the tradition of buying them Jelly Bellies every year on Valentine’s Day,” said Marshall, whose oldest daughter is now 27. “There was this local store that had scoop bins and a number of different flavors, and I thought it was so cool to be able to go in and scoop a little bit of this and a little bit of that. That’s how our Jelly Belly theme got started.”

Jelly Bellies form the backbone of what Maine Street Sweets has to offer. The store features large, red and yellow dispensers where more than 50 flavors of Jelly Bellies can be mixed and matched.

“We aim to have the largest selection of Jelly Bellies in the state,” said Marshall, who will continue to collect flavors in the future as they are introduced.

Some of the most popular include Very Cherry, a sweet and mild staple in the candy industry; Blueberry, whose bright flavors are right at home in Maine; Buttered Popcorn and A&W Root Beer. Folks can browse the various flavors and fill up plastic bags with candy, which will be charged by the pound.

“We’ve had a lot of window shoppers already,” said Giggey, prior to opening the business. “We’ve even let a few people come inside and look around, and you know what they acted like? Kids in a candy store.”

There will also be a small selection of organic and sugar-free jelly bean options, sports and energy bars for those who want a boost before working out and many other candy products, such as Cow Tails, Harry Potter Chocolate Frogs, Old Fashioned Cinnamon Sticks and more. All of the products are stacked upon uncured wood shelves, whose rough-looking surfaces resemble the vintage shelves used in older stores.

“We’re going to have a gift store in back filled with items I have collected over the years, too,” said Marshall, who is going to a craft show in Portland this March and hopes to procure many “Maine-made items” for sale in the gift store. “We want to help local crafters and local businesses.”

Marshall said she also wants to recognize local schools by giving students discounts and promoting sports teams.

“We would love to do sponsorships, like 10 percent of Jelly Belly sales going to a softball team, for instance,” said Marshall. “We want to keep things community-based as much as possible.”

The idea of community harkens back to

the core ideals of Maine Street Sweets, Marshall believes, keeping things simple, close to home and nostalgic. As you walk inside the store and taste the various treats while classic tunes flow out of the old stereo, the combination of taste and feeling, sound and sensation takes hold and brings you back in time.

Maine Street Sweets is located on 56 Maine St. in Brunswick. Hours are Thursday Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday, noon to 5 p.m.

bgoodridge@timesrecord.com

Why here in Midcoast Maine?

• THOUGH JULIE MARSHALL and Paul Giggey grew up north of here in the Waldo County community of Monroe, they had their eyes set on Brunswick for some time.

“We had been looking into other Midcoast towns for awhile, but nothing was quite right,” said Marshall, who saw that the space at 56 Maine St. was empty and waited patiently for a lease sign to go up.

“I called the Realtor as soon as the sign went up, and the next thing I know we are signing on the dotted line,” said Marshall, who felt instantly at home in Brunswick after moving down last year. “We love that Brunswick is a ‘walking downtown’ with so many businesses close by. This space is perfect for our vision.”

Where & when

• MAINE STREET SWEETS is located on 56 Maine St. in Brunswick. Hours are Thursday-Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday, noon to 5 p.m.

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