“Candy and socks are two of my favorite things,” confessed Pat Wahl, owner of The Village Candy Shoppe, 5727 Main St., in Sylvania’s Historic Village. “I became enamored with socks several years ago while visiting my brother in Portland, Oregon where I became acquainted with Dream Stockings by Sock Dreams, a small, family-owned business,” she recalled. “The owners of the company displayed and successfully sold their socks from bicycles they and others rode through all kinds of festivals. I thought that was amazing.”
After seven years of supplying children (and adults) of all ages with new and old-fashioned all-time favorite candy, Wahl decided the time had come to introduce unique socks to the community. “Socks and candy seem like a perfect fit, especially artist-designed socks for our art-friendly downtown,” she reasoned. Taking a page from the Sock Dreams marketing strategy, Wahl has purchased a second vehicle, this time a tricycle, for her and others to display and sell socks as they ride in downtown Sylvania during events.
“The lines of unique socks are sustainable and eco-friendly. Many of the socks are made from recycled yarns. Several of these small manufacturers have created partnerships to donate a portion of each sale to a charitable organization,” she noted.
Those manufacturers include World’s Softest, Soul Shine from Maine, Eco Socks of Dayton, Sock Dreams of Oregon, Lanart Imports from Huntersville, NC, and Wildest Kids of Davis, Calif. Others such as Pacas are international, Sanyork, is a Fair Trade Product, and Ark Imports is from Canada.
“Sock Dream socks are 50 percent cotton and 42 percent recycled cotton and polyester, while Eco Socks are made from bamboo. The Bed & Butter brand is eight percent cashmere, 10 percent spandex, and the remainder is from PET or recycled plastic bottles and containers,” Wahl pointed out.
Wahl especially likes the missmatched pairs of socks made by Soulmates. And, she is particularly fond of the very young children’s pair and a spare, three little socks also slightly mismatched. The USA-made Hollow brand offers socks made from nylon, alpaca, and spandex, which are especially made for outdoor wear such as hiking. Donations of a portion of the sale of organic colored camo socks are given to national parks and llama and goat farmers.
“Many of these sock makers are small, women-owned businesses. In many cases, these women are able to stay at home taking care of their families while crafting beautiful socks . This not only showcases these industerous women, it offers encouragement, showing that you can do it, to many others,” Wahl pointed out.
Her decision to add socks was reinforced when her daughter, Betsy, agreed to join her mother in the business.
“This is great! Betsy brings fresh enthusiasm for both the candy and our line of socks, which we plan to have great fun introducing to the community, as I have with the candy store,” she noted.
Originally, Wahl didn’t have any plans to open a store. The Village Candy Shoppe came about at the suggestion of her grandson Tyler Wahl. “Tyler was visiting me on his way to school after Thanksgiving, in November 2017. He was with me when I stopped at Harmony in Life. We happened to see a for rent sign on the small building in the Historic Village as we were leaving the parking lot. Tyler said I should rent the building and open either an ice cream or candy shop. By the next day, I made some phone calls, found out a candy shop was doable, rented the building, ordered old-fashioned candy and opened for business in January 2018.”