COME ON DOWN TO SCHEELS! We got backpacks, kayaks, bike seats and soccer cleats, sweatshirts, tennis skirts, jerked meats and bleacher seats, goose calls, golf balls, fish hooks and nature books, swimsuits, dried fruits, hiking boots and…
…FRESHLY MADE FUDGE?
And a tantalizing assortment of other delicious treats and gourmet eats, too? Is it too good to be true? ‘Tis. But it’s also FOR REALS when you go to SCHEELS: home of Fuzziwig's Candy Factory!
“Best candy apples in the whole world!” said shop manager Jonah Meyer. “I should know. I make them myself from scratch using fresh Granny Smith apples and our smooth, buttery, top secret caramel recipe, which I will gladly share with you if you ask.
“It takes well over an hour to cook a batch of caramel. I’m always sorry when it’s over, because if our guests all the way up at the top of our Ferris wheel can smell that warm, bubbling caramel, then you’d better believe it smells good here inside Fuzziwig’s.”
Fuzziwig’s candy apples are available coated in white chocolate, milk chocolate, dark chocolate, M&Ms, chopped nuts, and more. And for the purists seeking nostalgia flashbacks from state fairs of yore? Pomme au caramel au naturel.
“Best fudge in the whole world, too!” said assistant store leader Leah Hagen. “I should know. I have to resist the urge to ‘test’ it everyday. We make ours the old-fashioned way: in small batches using base ingredients, with a whole lot of love and a commercial-grade fudge mixer.
“My personal favorite, after having tested them all? That’d be like picking a favorite child, but I do love Pecan Cluster. Fudge, pecans, and caramel. Classic! Our best-selling fudge of all time, however, is carefully tailored to the discerning Minnesotan palate. It’s Minnetonka Mud Fudge: vanilla fudge layered under caramel layered under chocolate layered under caramel layered under chocolate.”
Let New England have its clam chowder. Allow Texas its brisket and Creole country its crawdads while you’re at it, because no American region can boast a higher culinary achievement than our own. I am speaking, of course, of the scotcheroo bite; a delicacy forged to perfection throughout the course of countless church bake sales since time immemorial.
“We sell scotcharoos by the slab, too,” said Jonah, in a tone that by no means challenges anyone to attempt eating an entire slab of scotcharoo by themself in one sitting, although I interpreted it that way anyway.
“Off the top of my head, I would guess there are anywhere between 300 and 400 different kinds of candy at Fuzziwig’s,” estimated Leah. “We have Runts, truffles, gumballs, chocolate-covered peanuts, honey sticks, Necco Wafers, Tootsie Rolls, Whatchamacallits, every shape of gummy, every size of jawbreaker, every shade of rock candy, and of course we have those little translucent wax bottles filled with colorful flavored syrups.”
RESPLENDENT. But what if you want a piping-hot cup of craft-roasted coffee – or some other uplifting beverage – and maybe a nice soup, salad, sandwich, or other quick bite to go with it? What should you do then? Leave SCHEELS? Ha ha! Of course not. This magazine would never advise doing such a thing. What it would do is dedicate an entire heading to where you ought to go.
Ginna’s Café & Coffee
“We get our beans from Driven Coffee Roasters of Chanhassen,” said Jonah. “They’re a perfect fit for SCHEELS’ own café: local, like so many other brands the store goes out of its way to showcase and promote, and exceptional at their craft. Driven roasts one smooth-drinking bean, and their flavor profile never changes.”
Ginna’s will serve you coffee every which way. They will serve you hot chocolate, smoothies, matcha, tea, and chai tea as well. They will even serve you Red Bull infusions, which are helpful if you want to do all your kids’ back-to-school shopping on Labor Day. But of all Ginna’s delicious, refreshing beverages, none is trending harder at the time of writing than that delicious, refreshing beverage.
“We just recently added dirty sodas to our menu,” said Leah. “Come on in and treat yourself to a Berry Blast, Tropical Tide, or Cherry Bomb sometime. We feature new flavors each month!
“SCHEELS started out in 1902. Even as a little mom-and-pop hardware and general store in Sabin, Minnesota, SCHEELS always strove to offer everything to everyone. Fuzziwig’s and Ginna’s are just two more ways we live up to that foundational mission. Grandma can get her coffee. Granddaughter can get a dirty soda. Grandpa can sneak off to get fudge. Everybody’s happy!” SCHEELS.com
Who can take a sunrise
Sprinkle it with dew
Cover it with chocolate
And a miracle or two
SCHEELS