Schmidt's Candy is a chocolatery selling hand crafted and hand dipped chocolates and

confections Confectionery is the art of making confections, which are food items that are rich in sugar and carbohydrates. Exact definitions are difficult. In general, however, confectionery is divided into two broad and somewhat overlapping categories ...

. It began as a

soda fountain A soda fountain is a device that dispenses carbonated soft drinks, called fountain drinks. They can be found in restaurants, concession stands and other locations such as convenience stores. The device combines flavored syrup or syrup concentr ...

in 1925 under the

elevated train An elevated railway or elevated train (also known as an el train for short) is a rapid transit railway with the tracks above street level on a viaduct or other elevated structure (usually constructed from steel, cast iron, concrete, or brick ...

on Jamaica Ave in

Woodhaven, Queens Woodhaven is a neighborhood in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Queens. It is bordered on the north by Park Lane South and Forest Park, on the east by Richmond Hill, on the south by Ozone Park and Atlantic Avenue, and th ...

History

In 1925 the

BMT BMT or bmt may refer to: Transportation * Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation, one of the three original New York City Subway systems * IATA code and FAA location identifier for Beaumont Municipal Airport, Beaumont, Texas * Station code f ...

took over operation of the “El” on Jamaica Avenue and Frank Schmidt opened the soda fountain under the station at Woodhaven Boulevard. His intent was to use old-world chocolate recipes and was following a business plan he found in a pamphlet entitled ’67 tested ways for you to make money’. The business changed over the years and evolved into hand crafting chocolate confections with fine ingredients, the soda fountain is long gone but the

prohibition era Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic be ...

showcases still hold trays of confections and

candy Candy, also called sweets (British English) or lollies ( Australian English, New Zealand English), is a confection that features sugar as a principal ingredient. The category, called '' sugar confectionery'', encompasses any sweet confection, ...

jars line the counters. His granddaughter Margie Schmidt is the current proprietor, having taken over from the second generation, (Frank Jr.) in 1986. The shop is a local landmark in Woodhaven featuring new and vintage molds of kewpie dolls, chocolate bunnies and hearts along with build your own gift boxes that are populated with your own choices. The counters were originally from other stores on the avenue, Meyer Luncheonette and Wilkins Ice Cream parlor. The molds for many creations date back to the 1920s and 1930s. The stretch of Jamaica Avenue in the 1940s and 1950s had soda fountains and

Ice Cream Parlors Ice cream parlors (American English) or ice cream parlours (British English) are places that sell ice cream, gelato, sorbet, and/or frozen yogurt to consumers. Ice cream is typically sold as regular ice cream (also called hard-packed or hard s ...

on nearly every block (Popp's, Wilken's, Meyer's, Muller's, Grader's, Sam & Rose's, Behren's, Schmidt's on 94th, Wrede's); Soda fountains and luncheonettes fell out of favor in the 1980s leaving this candy store reminiscent of earlier times frozen in place under the elevated J train.

References

{{reflist American companies established in 1925 American chocolate companies Chocolateries * German confectionery

History

See also

References