After more than a century in operation, the candy shop is selling its last batches Thursday and Friday or until they sell out.

AUSTIN, Texas — It’s a bittersweet moment for long-time Austinites. After 141 years in business, Lammes Candies is down to its last 48 hours.

The iconic candy shop posted on Facebook Wednesday, announcing it would be selling its last batch of candies at its 5330 Airport Blvd. location on Thursday and Friday or until they sell out. Available sweets include Cashew Critters, Chewie Pecan Pralines and Kisses, plus “possibly other delectable treats.”



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“What a shame; bunch of memories,” customer Erick Hausken said as he took a commemorative photo outside the storefront. “After all these years, all the Mother’s Day chocolate-covered strawberries, I just had to get one last taste.”

Lammes first announced its impending closure back in April, with no official closing date set at the time. The owners cited rising costs, setbacks and aging ownership as reasons behind the decision to shut their doors for good.

Shortly after the closure announcement, Austin-based real estate firm Topo Development Group announced its purchase of the Airport Boulevard property.

Lammes is Austin’s oldest continuously run family business, according to KVUE’s media partners at the Austin-American Statesman. It began in 1878 after William Wirt Lamme arrived in Austin from St. Louis in and established the Red Front Candy Factory at 721 Congress Ave. After losing the store in a poker game, his son, David Turner Lamme, repurchased it in 1885 for $800.

The store was renamed Lammes and moved to 919 Congress Ave. Lammes later opened locations in Twin Oaks, on The Drag at 2262 Guadalupe, and at the Delwood Shopping Center in 1951. Its current flagship store on Airport opened in December 1956.

Lammes Candies has opened and closed other suburban locations in recent years, including at Barton Creek Square Mall, Anderson Lane and Lakeline.

The lamb logo was the first neon sign in Austin, and Lammes also had the first soda fountain in Texas, according to the company.

“Lammes is just our world. It’s holidays, and it’s gifts, and it’s family reunions, and it’s, ‘Oh, somebody’s in the hospital. What do you get them? You get them Lammes,'” life-long customer Sarah Hemenway said. “It’s monumental. And it’s just been a part of our life since, you know, my family moved here in 1973, and then I was born. And I’m pretty sure Lammes was among the first gifts we ever got.”

Lammes’s Airport location will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday and Friday unless they sell out of candies before then.