Costas Candies has been a staple in the Owatonna community for many years, 101 years to be exact! The owners made a sad announcement yesterday, however: they're going to be closing the restaurant portion of their operation. But this also comes with good news! They're closing up the restaurant in order to expand their candy operation!

Southern Minn spoke with the owners and Grant Schultz, one of the co-owners, told them that they are not closing because of the Coronavirus pandemic. Apparently they've been talking about this move for about 5 years now. The demand for their candies is super high and during popular times of the year sometimes they don't have enough space to meet everyone's needs. With this expansion of the candy side of the business, they'll be able to meet those needs now.

And there's more good news: they won't be leaving downtown Owatonna! They'll be staying in the current location and just remodeling. Southern Minn says that one-third of the building will be for candy retail and the other two-thirds will be for making the candy. They're thinking that with this expansion of the candy operation that they'll be able to come out with new candies too!

Grant said that the Coronavirus made it an easier decision to close the restaurant because it proved to them that they're able to survive on just the sales of candy since their restaurant has been closed. I really like what co-owner Julie Schultz said: “'We are really excited about moving forward into our future with candy. After all, chocolate is everyone’s therapy.'”

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