Historic Downtown has a new shop that will add to the flavour of the old-west-themed district and hopefully attract more tourists to the region.
Walking into Horse Creek Candy & Gifts it is common to hear people reminisce at the candy wall about their favourite treats from their childhoods.
“That was my mom’s favourite,” said one elderly customer during a recent outing last Saturday to browse through the candies made in the 19th century.
“That’s why I wanted to come here.”
It is those stories that inspired shop owner, Shelley Willison, to open Cochrane’s only heritage candy and gift shop.
“Lots of people told me they were waiting for two months after I told people I was opening a candy store – people always have memories of those,” Willison said.
“People also asked, ‘Why a candy story in Cochrane?’ and I felt there was a need … I really wanted to buy local and support Alberta entrepreneurs.”
Most of the items, edible and not, in the shop are made in southern Alberta, from chocolate made in Canmore and Calgary, to beef jerky made in Longview, to items seen at the Cochrane Farmers’ Market.
There are also a couple of heritage features when you walk into shop. The two most notable are an “Instagram-worthy” chuckwagon holding a variety of candy right when you walk in the door and photos along the wall of old Historic Downtown.
Built in 1986, the mini chuckwagon was brought out of retirement to have a permanent spot in the store after being featured in the Calgary Stampede and parades in Cochrane, Airdrie, High River, Okotoks, High River and Strathmore.
There is also a photo nod to Cochrane This Week, the newspaper, owned by the former Cochrane Eagle owner Jack Tennant, originally occupied the building.
Willison said Tennant stopped by when the store opened to share stories of the old newsroom including when they had an office cat named, F.E.Line.
“We just tried to honour the history,” Willison said.
The candy-filled retro 1,400 square foot shop can be found next to MacKay’s Cochrane Ice Cream on First Street in Historic Downtown Cochrane.
