A historic chain of Texas candy stores that has been in existence since 1885 announced it will be closing its doors due to “unprecedented economic pressures.”Lammes Candies, which has a flagship location in Austin among its seven locations, is closing stores in Hillside and Lakeline Mall, according to its website. Another location in Round Rock is also being closed, according to a sign on its door, NBC affiliate KXAN reported.
The company cited “unprecedented economic pressures and current market conditions” as the reason for the closures in the message on its website.
Lammes, which created handcrafted chocolates and sweets, also wrote in a press release that the company is closing its business operations after it “carefully evaluated shifts in the marketplace and the long-term sustainability of its operations.”
The company said it would begin an “orderly wind-down of operations, including fulfilling remaining orders and supporting employees through the transition process.”
TODAY.com reached out to Lammes for clarification about when it will be closing all of its locations and whether it was still accepting online orders and did not immediately receive a response. The company said in its news release that additional information about timelines and final operations will be shared when they become available.
“This was not an easy decision,” the company’s ownership team said in a statement in the release. “Lammes Candies has been more than a business — it has been a family legacy spanning generations. We are deeply grateful to our employees, customers and community for their unwavering support over the last 141 years.”
The store in Round Rock closed on April 24 and the flagship location in Austin will remain open a little bit longer, with no timeline posted yet on its door, according to KXAN.
The company was founded by William Wirt Lamme in 1878 as Red Front Candy Factory in Austin. Lamme lost the business in a poker game in 1885, but his son, David Turner Lamme, Sr., repaid the $800 gambling debt and reclaimed the story, according to the company’s website.
Lammes Candies officially opened on July 10, 1885, and had been family-owned and operated since. It originally sold ice cream and a frozen fruit dessert before expanding to chocolates in 1965. It’s bestseller was the “Texas Chewie Pecan Praline,” which was first produced in 1892.
Since 2004, the company has been owned by siblings Pam, Bryan and Lana Lamme, who are the fifth generation of the family to run it.