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For decades, Lincoln's Haymarket area was known not for shops and restaurants but for candy.
From 1945 until 1980, Russell Stover Candies occupied the corner of Eighth and P streets, employing more than 1,000 employees and producing more than 250,000 pounds of candy per week.
In the past year, candy has returned to the area, in the form of two unique shops: Licorice International, owned by best friends Elizabeth Erlandson and Ardith Stuertz, and Chocolate Expressions, owned by sisters Debra Wilken and Julie Mason.
A specialty candy shop makes sense for the Haymarket District, said Erlandson. The architecture of the old buildings fits with old- fashioned treats such as licorice. Plus, the proximity to hotels and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln City Campus brings out-of-town visitors, and the farmers market and other community events provide further exposure for their retail store.
"We knew we could attract people who otherwise would never know that we were in town, and that was something we were really excited about," she said.
When Erlandson and Stuertz purchased Licorice International in February of 2002, it was a struggling mail order business. They...