Shane Handcrafted Candies at 110 Market Street is the oldest candy store in Philadelphia and claims to be the oldest in America. The business was originally established in 1876 under a different name and purchased in 1911 by Edward Shane. Edward sold the business to his son Edward, Jr. in 1950 who in turn sold the business to his son, the current owner, Barry Shane in 1983.
An interesting side note is that the business is located at the location where Robert Aitken once had a print shop. Aitken was the printer of the nation's first Bible, the Bible of the American Revolution, in 1782.
Shane's produces candy in much the same way as it has been made for a hundred years. As is usual in the candy business, bulk chocolate is purchased from a supplier and melted on site to combine with centers and fillings to create the wide assortment of candies available at the store. All of the centers are made on site. According to Barry Shane, "Making candy is making the centers...I follow 90% of the recipes that my father followed." While a few of the candies are machine coated, most of the candies are hand dipped just as they were in the time of Shane's grandfather.