Chip’s Candy Factory, Dick’s Sporting Goods to open in Independence Center

Crown Center’s locally owned candy store is expanding.

Chip’s Candy Factory plans to open on the lower level of Independence Center in late February.

The bulk candy store will feature more than 550 candy selections, including a complete line of Jelly Belly jelly beans and M&M candies, gummies, taffy, “nostalgic” selections like Astro Pop, Chick-O-Stick and Abba-Zaba, and novelty candy like Wax Mustaches, Icee Spray Candy and Scorpion Sucker.

Chip’s Candy Factory is a sister store to another Crown Center tenant, Chip’s Chocolate Factory.

Chip’s Chocolate Factory traces its roots to Kansas City Fudge, which opened in Crown Center in June 1983. But as the owners added more chocolate selections besides fudge, they felt the need for a name change to Chip’s Chocolate Factory in 2003.

Mike and Nicole Herman purchased Chip’s Chocolate Factory in late 2008, and the shop was featured on the Food Network’s “Kid in a Candy Store” in 2011. They opened Chip’s Candy Factory four years ago.

The new Independence location will be near the new Dick’s Sporting Goods.

“Independence Center being one of the two largest shopping malls in the region, we’ve always kept our eye on them and they approached us with the opportunity,” Mike Herman said. “They have been expanding their offerings — Carhartt, Pandora.”

Dick’s Sporting Goods, which is relocating from the nearby Bolger Square, plans a two-day grand opening. The first 100 people in line at 8:45 a.m. Feb. 6 will receive a free Reebok T-shirt. The first 100 people in line at 9:45 a.m. Feb. 7 will get a free stadium bag.

The new location will include an expanded assortment, special departments for soccer, lacrosse and baseball, wider aisles and improved signage.

This story was originally published January 20, 2016 at 5:45 PM with the headline "Chip’s Candy Factory, Dick’s Sporting Goods to open in Independence Center."