Minnesota Star Tribune

Sweet! Minnesota's Largest Candy Store just got larger

The beloved emporium on Hwy. 169 is adding an 85,000-pound space planetarium.

By Aimee Jordan

May 10, 2017 at 4:02PM

Minnesota’s Largest Candy Store, on Hwy. 169 south of Jordan, is expanding with a 60-foot-tall dome. (The Minnesota Star Tribune)

The world needs more obscure candy.

At least that's what the owners of Minnesota's Largest Candy Store say.

The Wagner family hopes their latest expansion — an 85,000-pound, 60-foot-tall space dome — hits the sweet spot.

Drivers on Hwy. 169 south of Jordan can't miss the place with its hangar-like building sloshed with yellow paint and filled with quirky sweets like bacon-flavored soda and jalapeño cotton candy.

But lately, the mysterious silo addition has been taunting tourists who want to know what's inside.

"They wonder if it's a velodrome or a merry-go-round," said owner Robert Wagner. "The best guess was from a group of welders who thought it might be a massive barbecue pit."

Wagner said that curious customers have been stopping by for weeks trying to get a peek. The store, along with the new expansion, will be open for the season Saturday.

"I want to be the first one in line," said Christine Skluzacek of Montgomery, Minn. "I take the kids there a couple times every summer. They like to buy weird candies like chocolate-covered bugs. They also have the best port-a-potties around."

Minnesota Largest Candy Store is a huge attraction that features thousands of different candy items.

What does the addition have to offer? The big yellow silo acts as a space-themed planetarium with a rotating ceiling painted to replicate the constellation Carina. Jordan High School art teacher Jessica Barnd lent her painting skills for the project, which required hand-painting 85 sheets of plywood.

Three-dimensional rockets and spaceships, including "Star Trek" 's Starship Enterprise and "Star Wars" ' Millennium Falcon, will be added later as local artists complete them.

As for candy, Wagner says to expect the unexpected. The planetarium will be filled with obscure, interactive candies from countries such as Germany and Japan.

Interactive candy?

"It's candy that's a little more of an experience, an adventure," Wagner said. "The most bizarre candy we'll have is this one where you mix a liquid and a powder in a [toy] toilet and drink it with a straw. Kids think the toilet is a magical disappearing machine, and they love it."

If you go, forget your credit cards. Wagner does business the old-fashioned way — with cash.

Aimee Blanchette • 612-673-1715