Our History
In 1972 Kieran and Dee Powers opened up a small shop in Wisconsin Dells to sell wool and antiques, after Kieran decided that his children needed something to keep them busy so they stayed out of trouble. They rented space from Peter Hellend who owned a glass shop in the lower Dells. Peter remarked to them one time that he wanted a candy store there and asked if they would ever be interested in making fudge. The two talked it over and decided to venture into the chocolate world and thus Powers Candies was born.
In the beginning the shop only ran during the summer, opening its doors on Memorial weekend, with all of the kids taking turns working in one capacity or another. After about 8 years of running the store in the Dells, all while still teaching Kindergarten in Mauston during the school year, Dee talked to Kieran about moving the shop into their home in Lyndon Station.
They decided that between the rent expense and the kids having to drive back and forth all the time, bringing it home was a good choice, so they converted their garage into a licensed kitchen and began to work from home. Slowly over the years the shop has come to stay open year round and after almost 40 years of teaching Dee retired to run the candy store full time.
A Candy Making Family
Over the years the kids have grown and left and many of the local friends and neighbors have come and worked in the kitchen. From retired teachers and nurses, to farm wives and high school seniors, the shop always has a handful of employees who love to take their turn at the “Willy Wonka” shop of Juneau County. While faces may change from time to time in the shop, the traditions never do.
There is always a 10:00 coffee break poured by Ann McGowan, one of Dee’s oldest friends. Hopefully coffee is accompanied by homemade doughnuts from Shirley Buttner, our neighbor and Christmas box packer. Lunch is always eaten around the kitchen table with plenty of laughs and usually a “show and tell” of the latest quilting project. And at 3:00 after the cleanup is finished the lucky ones get to grab their bag of “mistakes” to take home for a snack.
After Kieran’s passing in 2007, after a long hard battle with cancer, Dee began to step back from the candy business and her daughter, Mary Louise, and her niece, Keilah, filled in to help take care of the work. Mary Louise lives in St. Charles MO and comes home for 2 weeks every month to help handle the big picture of the operations and logistics of the company. While Keilah lives a few miles down the road and takes care of the day to day management of the shop. Over the last 6 years the two have introduced new candies to the kitchen line up including the holiday wine hanger boxes, Dee’s Deelights, and the dark chocolate Coffee Crunch bars.
The shop has grown to sell to a variety of stores all over Wisconsin and ships across the country. They have a box for every occasion whether it’s holidays, weddings, housewarming gifts, or grilling season and are happy to help you with all your chocolate needs.