Company: Watson’s Candies
Owners: Virginia and Michael Griffin
Founded: 1932
Type of business: a confectionery store
Location: Walpole, Mass.
Number of employees: between four and 12 part-time depending on the season
Annual revenues: WND
THE CANDY LADY, Virginia Griffin with some of her products at Watson’s Candies
Rhode Island's Market Has Changed. Developers, Builders, Investors and Sellers Must Change With It.
By Emilio DiSpirito IV License Partner | Engel & Völkers Oceanside Leader | The DiSpirito…
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Virginia Griffin understands the value of tradition and family.
When she purchased Watson’s Candies a decade ago, she quickly understood that this was a 58-year-old company that was built on quality products and a strong tradition, a tradition she was not about to change.
For years Griffin, who was brought up in Walpole, lived in Boston with her husband Michael and journeyed around the world working in the travel industry. Ten years ago, when she and her husband wanted to start a family, Griffin decided to do something closer to home.
”It’s funny because if you have ever traveled to another country, you know that wherever you go, people want you to try their chocolate,” she said. “Now, here I am trying to get people who visit here to try my chocolate.”
But Griffin’s connection to Watson’s Candies went beyond taste testing. One of 15 children, many of her siblings had worked at the Main Street shop. In fact one of her sisters, who was still working at the shop, told her about current owner, Dudley Hillard, wanting to sell.
”I knew that he wanted to sell, but it was important to him that he sell to a person who would continue what he had started,” she said. “I was willing to do that. This was the kind of business that I wanted to run.”
For two years Griffin and Hillard worked side by side – almost like an apprenticeship. He showed her husband and her mother how to cook and dip the chocolate – all of which is done by hand, and he worked with her on managing the books and marketing the store.
“He made it work for me,” she said. “There were many a time in the first two
years that I carried my son, who is now 11, around on my back. But that was fine for Mr. Hillard.”
Griffin said part of the reason she asked Hillard to stay was to assure people that the store itself wouldn’t change.
”People really don’t like change,” she said. “They liked seeing Mr. Hillard around and at the same time got used to seeing me. Now, when they ask I tell them that he has retired and they are excited for him.”
Taking over a business that somebody else has established came with its own set of challenges – especially when that business has been a part of the town since 1932.
”We needed to learn through trial and error, especially when it came to the cooking,” Griffin said. “One week things would go great, the next the temperature outside would throw everything off — but we needed to maintain what people had grown to love.”
Maintaining tradition has presented some difficulties for Griffin and her husband including last month, when the company that supplies all the boxes for Watson’s Candies decided to discontinue making the signature “yellow” boxes in certain sizes.
”I think we were the only company that used that shade of yellow for our boxes,” she said. “But it’s difficult because for many people that yellow is synonymous with Watson’s. I ended up choosing a white box, but it’s definitely not the same.”
And when Griffin realized that the store was outgrowing its almost 30-year-old location at 996 Main Street, her decision to move to 761 Main Street created some concern for the people of Walpole.
”I just moved down the street,” she said. “But people were concerned that we were leaving the ‘downtown’ section of Main Street.”
But since opening at its new location in April, Griffin said business is booming. The new location affords more space for cooking, for packaging, and for display.
”Everything here is still done the old fashioned way,” she said. “And with the small space we couldn’t keep up with stocking the shelves and with the mail-order. We just didn’t have enough space.”
During the store’s busy seasons – Christmas and Mother’s Day – close to 2,000 pounds of chocolates are prepared. Griffin said in the old store that was often a problem because there was limited capacity.
”One guy orders close to 800 pounds of chocolate for his employees during the holidays,” she said. “That order alone filled up the other store.”
The new store has two stoves, a cold storage area, and each step of the preparation process has its own station, many of which customers can see while they’re shopping.
In addition, Griffin had renowned designer/artist and furniture maker Ted Box of Martha’s Vineyard design much of the interior of the new store – creating a virtual garden along the shelves and in the corners of supporting columns.
”I wanted people to feel good when they walked into my store,” she said. “I have been dreaming about this since I bought the business 10 years ago, and this is exactly what I pictured.”
The store isn’t the only thing that moved. Griffin and her family renovated the upstairs of the building which now houses the store, creating a new home for themselves and according to Griffin, striking the perfect balance for a mom and a business owner.
”This is how they used to do it long ago,” she said. “Business owners would live upstairs, and now I feel like I am running the traditional business.”
But there are a few things about Griffin’s business that break the norm — most of her 12 seasonal employees are mothers and the rest are members of her family, including five of her sisters and her mother.
”Because my business slows in the summer, I can give moms the entire summer off to spend with their children,” she said. “I give them school vacations off, and I tell them not to come in when one of their children is home sick. I want this to be enjoyable and as a mom, I know about these types of things”
Though the new store is not totally up and running, Griffin said she plans to take the next few months to get up to full speed. By fall she expects to have the kitchen completed, and thoughts of selling on-line are not too far away.
”At times it all seems so overwhelming,” she said. “But our main goal is to just make good candy.”
