Huyler Building - Table of Contents
The Huyler Candy Company in Buffalo
By Jennifer Walkowski
An excerpt from the
Huyler Building Nomination for Listing on the State & National Registers of Historic Places.
Prepared by Clinton Brown Company Architecture/Rebuild
Also in 1885, the first Huyler’s branded store appeared in Buffalo. Operated by local confectioner, John T. Roberts, the Buffalo store opened at 350 Main Street in the heart of the city’s bustling commercial center. Clearly, Huyler’s was positioned as a high-end confectioner, catering more to a wealthy, upper-class clientele with disposable income. Huyler’s candies and chocolates were also available through other non-Huyler’s branded candy stores as well, which increased the market for their product.
Second Buffalo storeBuffalo’s second Huyler’s retail store opened in 1908. Known as the “Uptown store,” this new shop located at 566 Main Street was also managed by John. T. Roberts, who also continued to operate the “Downtown store” at 350 Main Street. In an advertisement, heralding the opening of the new Uptown store, the Huyler’s company was noted as selling “absolutely pure and fresh confections” which included their “delicious Bon Bons and Chocolates as well as Novelties in Fancy Boxes and Baskets.” This advertisement also noted that at this time, the Huyler’s shops in Buffalo also sent candy by mail or through express delivery. Interestingly, in 1908 the Huyler’s shop at 566 Main Street also included a soda fountain, a type of quick and inexpensive eatery which was highly popular in this era, indicating an expansion of the original Huyler’s confectionary business. Patrons could enjoy Huyler’s fountain drinks at the Statler Hotel’s Palm Room (built 1905-1908, demolished; Postcard), one of Buffalo’s most elegant and prestigious hotels, indicating the high-quality and sophistication of the Huyler’s products. As their slogan read, “A man is known by the candy he sends.”[10]
Huyler’s was also noted for operating several stores as luncheonettes (a trend first noted back in 1908 with the opening of the store at 566 Main Street in Buffalo) and for the “striking” fact that these stores were open to the street, allowing passer-bys to see into the store itself rather than being screened by a display case, creating a display and store in one.[18]
This trend for the confectionary chain is evident in Buffalo. In 1927 Buffalo had three Huyler’s retail shops located at 350 Main Street (opened in 1885), 566 Main Street (opened in 1908) and 660 Main Street (opened ca. 1920s), plus the Huyler Building on Delaware Avenue. By 1930, Buffalo had one operational Huyler’s retail shop at 566 Main Street.
[10] "Huyler's Advertisement." Buffalo Daily Courier 4 Apr. 1908, sec. 10: 1.
[18] Walter Sumner Hayward, Chain Stores: Their Management and Operation, New York: McGraw Hill Book Company, 1922; 387-388.
