Small Business Spotlight: Lillie Mae Chocolates

Lillie Mae Chocolates has been creating joy since 1939. In its most recent location in the historic 13th Street district in Marshalltown, Iowa, Lillie Mae's owners, Aimee and Tom, are growing the beloved candy shop. They share a little bit about what makes their Iowa small business special below:

Q+A with Lillie Mae Chocolates

Where did the idea for Lillie Mae Chocolates come from?

Aimee Deimerly-Snyder: We were started in 1939 by a Greek family that had immigrated to Marshalltown and the fellow's name was George Demopolos, and he named the business after his daughter, Lillie Mae. The funny thing is we had for years tried to figure out who Lillie Mae was and what happened to her because George only owned Lillie Mae for two years. For years we tried to find her, and even our customers became invested in the search.

Finally, one of our customers, a historian, found out that Lillie Mae ended up being a play on words or a nickname for Little Mary. While George, for whatever reason, only lasted two years in the business, he brought on more of his relatives, all immigrants from Greece, John Moucoulis, Peter Mercuris, Andy Mercury and Bill Moucoulis, who ran it together.

Over the years, they ran Lillie Mae together as a cafe and candy store, and then eventually they slowly dropped off. Eventually, it was just Andy Mercury and his wife Len. They were the sole owners who moved the business to downtown Marshalltown, and it was there from 1974 until 2011. Andy's daughter, Georgia, ran the business from around 1984. So, it's been in the same family, but Georgia and her husband Buck didn't have children. When I heard the rumors that they wanted to sell their business, I felt I could do something great with it.

Lillie Mae and Marshalltown have a long history. Everybody knew Lillie Mae. Even I fell in love with the candy. It was so special.

I tried to buy Lillie Mae Chocolates for three years and they kept telling me no. And one day after months of asking I finally walked in, and they said, "You know what, Aimee, we're ready to sell. Are you ready?"

I was not ready. I was nine months pregnant. So, it took a little bit, but my husband and I finally decided to take on the store. It felt like it was meant to be because Georgia and Buck came down with some health problems and they would've ended up having to close the store.

Georgia stayed on and worked at the candy store with me for years, and she's the one who taught me how to make candy. We sat across from each other with a marble slab in between, and she taught me how to hand dip the chocolates. Buck was the one who made the caramels, which are slow cooked to make them extra buttery and yummy.

We've owned Lillie Mae for more than 20 years now, and we'll be in business 85 years total since the doors first opened.

How did it feel that first couple of months?

ADS: It was scary because when you're responsible for other people's livelihood, that's a lot of pressure. Georgia did everything by hand, and I mean by hand. One of their suggestions was to get some equipment that would help make the process more efficient, but still allow our food to be handmade. We did that right away, so I was learning new equipment, learning recipes and learning patience.

I’d also ask Georgia a lot of questions like, “What temperature is the chocolate ready?” And she'd just say, "Well, you just know by touch how it feels.” I would respond with “No, I want to know what temperature.” And she would laugh and say, “Aimee, you need to learn in your heart and in your touch, and you need to have more patience.” I'm sure I was just a huge pain in her rear, but she felt like I was her daughter that she never had and honestly, she was a second mom to me.

The store has moved a few times. Is it in the same spot now?

ADS: IN 2011, we had gone through the recession, and it was just kind of rough. My dad had just died, and we had been in business and worked with him my entire life. We just decided we needed a break. So, we closed the store. We didn't go under; we closed the doors and auctioned off most of the equipment. We didn't sell the name or the recipes. We just needed a break. And well, that break only lasted a month-and-a-half.

Someone asked us to make some caramel apples out of the house, so we did that from 2011 until 2020 and that process went very well. I had another job, and my husband did too. We'd get off work between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. and six or seven employees would arrive to help make candy in the house. My kids grew up in this wonderful environment when they were little, seeing us make candy.

Then my job changed with COVID. I was the Volunteer Coordinator for the Iowa Veterans Home. When those changes happened, the current Lillie Mae Chocolates location became available, and we felt the time was right to reopen. A lot of people thought we'd lost our minds opening during the pandemic, but Marshalltown really needed to have a business to rally around. People were so happy we were back that it turned out great.

This new location allowed me to do things my own way. I created an extension of my personality. It's bright and fun.

Is everything in-house or does Lillie Mae do events, too?

ADS: We have a trailer that we call the Lillie Pad Rolling Sweet Shop, and we take that all over in the summer. We're not taking it out a lot in August just because it's so hot, but we sell ice cream out of it, chocolates, caramel apples and we'll have popcorn out of it as well. Our ice cream business really picks up during the summer months, so it's nice to have two locations, the trailer and then here as well.

If someone was going to look through Lillie Mae's selection for the first time, what items would you recommend they try?

ADS: Anything with caramel. Our caramel is like a buttery soft caramel. It's not the kind that sticks in your teeth, and it's not the kind that is hard. It just kind of melts in your mouth. We have a ton that we make with caramel. We've got sea salt caramels, chocolate-covered caramels, caramels wrapped in sea salt. Our biggest seller is called TorTush, which is a play on words for turtle. It is a homemade caramel with pecans and English walnuts. That's where I recommend everybody start, as long as they like nuts.

What products can the public expect from the shop in the upcoming months?

ADS: We make caramel almost every day, and once school starts, we'll start making double-dipped caramel apples daily. We partner with Hinegardner's Apple Orchard for apples because they will pick and deliver them to us the day, they're picked making the apple just that much better. We try to source locally if we can.

 

What words of advice do you have for others looking to start a small business or take the reins of an established small business?

ADS: One of my favorite things is something that has changed in my thinking over the past 20 years. I used to really worry about competition, and I would get kind of wound up about whether they might take business away. I have completely changed in the last five years. I really would encourage people to not look at other businesses as competition but figure out ways that you can work together because it always makes both of you better.

Check out Lillie Mae Chocolates at lilliemaechocolate.com, or see updates by following on Facebook or Instagram. You can also reach out to Aimee at lilliemaechocolates@gmail.com.

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