Welcome to Wanda's Sugar Shack's Home Page. Wanda's Sugar Shack is now located at 8 Harborwalk in downtown Milford CT. Wanda has been in the candy store business for over 25 years! Known from Milford Connecticut to Alaska.

"Let your sweet tooth drop in..." ©

Wanda stocks a full assortment of candy, home-made candy and candy making supplies. Perfect for any occasion. She proudly stocks the original gourmet jelly bean 'Jelly Belly'.

Company Profile

Wanda Hornack is the original owner/operator of Wanda's Sugar Shack. She continues to work at her store daily. With the help of her family and friends, God, and truck loads of luck, her store has thrived in the Milford area for over 25 years.

Wanda started selling candy in the Great Depression, when she was just 7 years old. Her mother would send her to school with "moseys", sugar cups filled with coconut and nuts. She would sell them for a penny each. She always played store-keeper at home and that childhood dream stayed with her until she opened her first store on June 17th 1973, in a small shop on New Haven Avenue in Milford. 

In 1975 she moved to River Street until a major flood destroyed her business in 1982. After taking in the devastation of the flood she decided that it wasn't going to stop her from re-opening. She re-opened in an adjacent shop and continued to run Wanda's Sugar Shack. Then in 1992 again tragedy struck, this time it was a fire that swept through her store and a few adjacent businesses. "In ten years I lost the business twice," she says. "But, I'm a tough old bird. I kept bouncing back." And so she did, opening at 32 Broad Street Milford Connecticut. 

Then again on Feb. 14th 2000, a disastrous day for Wanda, a fire once again destroyed her store. Was this the end for a well loved small candy store and was it time for Wanda to finally give up and retire? Of course not, a week to the day later on Monday Feb. 21st Wanda's Sugar Shack had re-opened at it's new location, 8 Harborwalk downtown Milford Connecticut.

Some quotes from her customers:

"When we were kids, we'd get a quarter and go to the penny candy store and walk away with a bag of candy. This reminds us of when we were kids."

"A friend of mine told me about this store years ago. She said, 'There's a lady who sells penny candy like when we were kids.'"

"Wanda knows you by name, and the products she has are made with love."

"God forbid she should ever retire...we would die."

Some words from Wanda:

Asked about retiring, "What else would I do, my customers are my family."
"I retire every night at five o'clock."

Asked about profits, "I don't make a lot of money, but it gets me out doing something I enjoy," chuckling when she recalled one of her 'big sales': 31 cents.

Contact Information

Telephone

1-203-878-9967

Electronic mail

General Information: Kwyno13@email.msn.com
Webmaster: webmaster@wandassugarshack.com 

 

 

* Some contents were taken from an interview with Wanda in 1998 by: Jill Kaiser Dion of the Milford Mirror. Thank you Jill! 
Other remarks were taken from an article written in 1996 by: Kerry Tesoriero of the New Haven Register. Thank you Kerry!