Historic Brewerytown Shop Experiences Second Life as an Artistic Enclave

If you live or work in Brewerytown, chances are you have heard of The Candy Shop. You may not know what it is exactly, but the name tends to float throughout the neighborhood in passing conversations and “it happened last night” laughs. A hundred-year-old neighborhood shop is being given the opportunity to see new life thanks to a group of community-orientated artists.

Nestled between the ever-closing Rainbow and New Style Ladies, most newcomers to the area might not even realize that the property at 2809 W. Girard is anything but an abandoned storefront. What hides behind the foggy glass windows and iron-gated door is a story of the past meeting the future.

The building was once home to Young’s Candy Shop, which first opened its doors in 1897. The Young family planted their roots in the Brewerytown section of Philadelphia after coming to America from Germany, where they had already been in the business of handcrafting sweets. For generations, the Youngs operated and resided within the candy shop, living in rooms located on the second and third stories of the building. It was in these rooms where Harry Young, final owner of the family business, was born. The story of Young’s Candy spans a century, holding strong through the financial ebb and flow of the neighborhood, churning out a full menagerie of homemade chocolate animals to satisfied customers year after year, and ending when Harry Young passed away in 2006. Though much of the equipment and furnishings were sold at auction, the tin ceilings and marble floors still manage to capture the fragile nostalgia of the past.

After Young’s death, the property was sold and, beginning in 2007, the rooms above the defunct shop were rented out. Walking through the doors of the candy shop nowadays is akin to entering an enchanted museum of oddities. The glass display cases, a leftover relic from the candy shop’s days of prosperity, now contain conch shells, origami cranes and old comic books, among other captivating curiosities. The shelves that line the wall behind the wooden counter house so many books that, upon first entering, one might actually believe that he has stumbled into a fully-operational bookstore. The comforting embrace of the environment can be attributed to those who now live within the time-battered walls of the shop.

Eli Edison, one of the current residents, has lived above the The Candy Shop since 2012. Edison is well-versed in the significance of the shop’s history in the neighborhood, having had the chance to discuss it with the remaining members of the Young family when they came to visit several summers back.

In 2013, Edison was brought in contact with fellow artist Ava Hassinger, who was interested in renting an open room at the shop. The two clicked immediately, discovering they had friends in common in Baltimore, where both had spent many years. Edison had begun using the basement in the space as a studio for his art, which is where all of the housemates go for late-night sessions of collaging, collaborating and musical improvisations. Hassinger and Edison would spend these moments of creation discussing how The Candy Shop would make a perfect location for an arts collective, especially since those who wound up renting rooms in the space were artists. It seemed natural, then, that a plan be put into motion. In the later part of the summer of 2015, the two officially formed Yung Kandy Collective, the name a nod to the space’s longstanding significance to Brewerytown.

The group is comprised of the residents of The Candy Shop: Edison, Hassinger, Collin Wooldcock, Greg Trout, Todd Rupp and Sean Slattery. Yung Kandy is an idea taking form in a neighborhood that is trying to find a melded identity of residents that have lived in the area forever and the new faces that keep popping up.

“Philly is a city of neighborhoods,” Hassinger said, “and they are all interconnected in some way. What we’re trying to prevent is this neighborhood losing that sense of connectedness.”

Already, members of Brewerytown’s past and present converge in spaces like Sara’s Place (1216 N 29th St), but the aim there is to grab drinks and unwind after a long day of work. Edison, who tends bar at Sara’s, believes that more can come from these moments of connection.

“Working at Sara’s, I see a lot of community interactions,” Edison said. “The idea is to take that energy and transplant it into other spaces. The bar creates the social interaction necessary for a community, but once last call happens everyone goes their separate ways.”

“We want to continue the stimulation without the reliance on liquor,” Hassinger added, laughing.

The formation of Yung Kandy serendipitously coincided with Brewerytown’s inaugural First Friday, spearheaded by Brewerytown Social, in October 2015. For the first time, denizens of the neighborhood were able to explore the work of local artists in various stores and restaurants, including The Candy Shop.

“I want the Brewerytown creative community to want to be in Brewerytown,” Hassinger says, “I don’t want a painter in the neighborhood to feel like they have to go to other areas to put up their art instead of trying to finding a local spot.”

Yung Kandy also works with local businesses to strengthen the area’s fledgling sense of community. Lisa Miccolis, owner of The Monkey & The Elephant (2831 W. Girard Ave) wanted to screen a film about foster care, Edison offered up The Candy Shop so they could accommodate more of a crowd. Similarly, Yung Kandy stepped forward after Harry Saritsoglou, owner of Uncle Nick’s Pizza (2825 W. Girard Ave), expressed interest in having a mural painted on the interior of his restaurant. When work had to be done on Brewerytown Yoga Enthusiasts usual meeting place, Yung Kandy told them they were welcome to use their space for classes. The group wants art to be a part of the neighborhood, to inform the decisions made, to give the community a chance at expression and allow it to thrive.

Throughout the process, the group has dealt with a fair share of snags. MMPartners, who have purchased much of the W. Girard neighborhood over the course of the past year, have been in talks to buy The Candy Shop for months. Though the deal has not been completed yet, it has created a complicated back and forth with what developers want to see come from the property and how Yung Kandy can use their home base. Though this is a roadblock, there is not active resistance from landlords or developers, who Edison remains in contact with whenever possible.

“We’ve got nothing but support to use the space the way we want to,” he clarifies, “but that has been mostly verbal support.”

Both Edison and Hassinger have a deep connection to Brewerytown. When asked about the relevance of Yung Kandy to the current state of the neighborhood, Edison delivers an honest and eloquent response:

“We want to create the cultural headquarters of the West Girard corridor. You look at Fishtown and you see a lot of culture. There are performance spaces, galleries… but there is no particular headquarters.”

It is a sentiment being repeated time and time again throughout Brewerytown. Community is forming, but there is a disconnect between residents and planners. The two worlds do not yet converge in a way that allows everyone to have an equal voice and that can drastically shift the dynamic of the area.

“We do not want to just create an artsy Brooklyn-esque neighborhood,” Edison continues, “We’re not Brooklyn, no matter how developers want to push that concept. That idea fails in a neighborhood like this. You can’t just open up a bunch of consignment shops and cafes and expect it to be Williamsburg or Fishtown. To create a community, it must be done step by step. This neighborhood is already building itself, and we need to eliminate the remaining tension of the old residents meeting the new.”

Though Yung Kandy wishes for more transparency so that future events can be organized, it has not deterred them from their mission. Already, the group is trying to discover alternative spaces to showcase local art should they not be able to use The Candy Shop any longer. Though nothing has been solidified yet, it is the uncertainty of the future that has led the group to deem March 4th’s First Friday event “The Last Yung Kandy Show at Young’s Candy.”

This showcase of art and music will include work by members of the collective as well as Brewerytown artists Jason Grant, Steve Ferrell, Andrew Pollock, Christine Williams and more. Musical performances will feature a mix of Brewerytown groups and other Philly acts, these include Dena & the Mellowton3s, TFFNI, Rogue Methods, The City & I and a performance by collective member Collin Woolcock.

While this could potentially be the end of another, albeit shorter, chapter of The Candy Shop, Yung Kandy will live on. On April 22nd the collective will be featured at Off the Wall Gallery out of Dirty Frank’s (347 S. 13th St)

Though the future is a mystery, as it always is, it is unlikely that this talented and passionate group of individuals will give up on their dream of giving shape to the neighborhood.