Minnesota's Largest Candy Store is no longer moving

JORDAN, Minn. (FOX 9) - Minnesota's Largest Candy Store is no longer moving from its home off Highway 169 in Jordan.

After sharing plans in April to build a new, much larger candy store about 1,000 feet from its current location, owner Robert Wagner told FOX 9 he will not be moving the popular store because it would be too expensive to build due to the condition of the soil. 

"The plan to move the store is beyond on hold," Wagner told FOX 9. "I believe there’s a strong possibility that we will stay here for the rest of time."

Wagner said they had done their own testing on the soil and it looked good, but in March they brought in a soil boring company that went down 20 feet. The company's report indicated there was a layer of muck "way deep down" that would prevent the store from having firm footings. 

Then, on April 30, Wagner met with an excavating company from Jordan. 

"They didn't even know if it was possible because that muck was so deep and in such a situation as this, they indicated that the excavators can lose their footing and they tip over," Wagner said. "And there's been loss of life trying to make a site like that work."

Wagner said they examined various options to make it structurally sound to build, but it was unclear if it was even safe to do so. And the plan to move was halted. 

Why was Minnesota's Largest Candy Store going to move? 

Wagner had planned to move the store because a new interchange at Highway 169 and Delaware Avenue would have closed access to the store from the highway. In April, Wagner said the county offered to build a new frontage road to his property, but he said it would have been expensive and could have hurt his business, so county officials offered a land swap in exchange for his property.

The store in the new location would have been about 2.5 times the size of the current store, and was going to be a big yellow barn like the original one. Wagner hoped that it would be the largest candy store in the world — not just Minnesota. 

What's next for Minnesota's Largest Candy Store? 

With the plan to move called off, Wagner says a frontage road will be built to the existing store once the overpass is complete. 

He's disappointed because, in a short time, he'd gotten very excited. They'd put in a lot of work before deciding to pull the plug on the plan to move, including drawing up full blueprints for the new building, which would have been 10,000 square feet. 

"I was smitten. I was in love with this project. I wanted this real bad," Wagner said of the new candy store. 

Wagner is now looking at options to expand at the current location. 

Minnesota's Largest Candy Store opened in 1978.