Business Spotlight
Jagielky’s Homemade Candy: More Than 50 Years of Small-Batch Tradition
Half a century of handmade chocolate, family recipes, and one unmistakably sweet corner of Ventnor Avenue where candy is still made the way George Jagielky first imagined it.
Jagielky’s Homemade Candy at 5115 Ventnor Avenue — a working candy shop and the heart of the company’s small-batch production. Photo: Visit Ventnor.
Jagielky’s Homemade Candy
| Founded: July 1972 Family: George Jagielky, Mike Carr, Annamarie Carr Address: 5115 Ventnor Avenue |
Known for: Almond Butter Crunch, small-batch chocolate, seasonal treats Recognition: VBA Best of the Press 2025 — Best Candy Store Community: Shipping nationwide, three generations of family ownership |
Some Jersey Shore traditions are measured in summers. Others become part of the family. For more than half a century, Jagielky’s Homemade Candy has occupied that special place in Ventnor — where chocolate, memory and neighborhood history seem to meet at the same counter.
There are businesses you visit because you need something, and then there are businesses you visit because walking through the door is part of being here. Jagielky’s Homemade Candy, at 5115 Ventnor Avenue, is firmly in the second category.
Since George Jagielky established the Ventnor candy store in July 1972 with recipes he developed in Philadelphia, generations of locals, vacationers and former Shore residents have made the shop part of birthdays, holidays, summer visits, hostess gifts, Easter baskets and ordinary afternoons that suddenly seemed to require chocolate.
More than 50 years later, the Ventnor storefront remains an active confectionery and the beating heart of the business. Jagielky’s notes that the vast majority of its homemade treats are still crafted right here on-site using the family’s original recipes. That turns 5115 Ventnor Avenue into something increasingly rare: a neighborhood shop where beloved, decades-old confections are still made by hand in the very community that helped put them on the map.
“The stuff of childhood memories.” That’s how Jagielky’s describes its candy — and it may be the most accurate description of the business itself.
A Ventnor Tradition Since 1972
George Jagielky developed his candy recipes in Philadelphia before establishing the Ventnor store in July 1972. Those recipes became the foundation: rich creams, caramels, nut confections, toffee, fruit-and-chocolate combinations and distinctive chocolate blends that longtime customers came to recognize immediately.
As the years passed, George’s recipes were passed down within the family. The second generation involved in carrying the tradition forward includes Mike Carr and his wife Annamarie. Later, twins Jack and Adrianna became the third generation to run the business, continuing the family’s commitment to small-batch production and original techniques.
Three Generations. One Candy Tradition.
The significance isn’t simply that Jagielky’s has survived since 1972. It’s that the recipes, techniques and identity of the shop have been handed from one generation to another while remaining rooted in the Shore community that embraced it. In an era when familiar storefronts disappear almost overnight, there’s something remarkable about buying candy from a family business whose history stretches across grandparents, parents, children — and now the memories of customers who have made Jagielky’s part of their own family traditions.
The Candy Is Still Made Here
Walk into Jagielky’s and you’re not stepping into a retail outlet stocked by a distant factory. The company says its candy is made in small batches, and that most of it is produced at the Ventnor store. The process reads like a checklist from a traditional confectioner’s kitchen: pure creamy butter, real vanilla, cinnamon, specially roasted nuts, homemade caramel and toffee cooked in copper pots, hand-rolled Easter eggs and proprietary blends of chocolate.
Small-batch production matters because Jagielky’s isn’t engineering candy for months on a supermarket shelf. The emphasis is on making fresh confections with flavors and textures that have kept people coming back for decades.
Jagielky’s says customers regularly return after first visiting the store as children. Some moved away. Some went off to college. Some started families of their own. Yet the connection remained strong enough that the company now ships candy across the United States to people who can no longer simply walk down Ventnor Avenue and pick up a box.
ABC (Almond Butter Crunch): slow-roasted almonds, copper-pot toffee, milk chocolate. The signature confection. Photo: Jagielky’s Homemade Candy.
Meet the ABC
ABC stands for Almond Butter Crunch, and if Jagielky’s has a signature confection, this is it. The company jokingly calls ABC the “filet mignon” of toffee treats, but the process is serious. The almonds are slow-roasted using a special process and chopped before the original-recipe toffee is prepared in copper pots. The toffee is then covered in Jagielky’s milk-chocolate blend, coated in roasted almonds and left to set while the flavors come together.
The result is buttery, crunchy, chocolatey and deeply nutty — exactly the kind of candy that creates devoted repeat customers and makes “just one piece” nearly impossible.
A Personal Ventnor Memory
A Story From Next Door
My own connection to Jagielky’s goes back much further than writing about Ventnor businesses.
My mother operated a women’s clothing store called Shelly’s Showroom right next door to Jagielky’s. That meant spending time beside one of the most dangerous neighbors imaginable for anyone with a weakness for chocolate.
I remember how difficult it was to stay away from the bark-like, buttery combination of chocolate, nuts and toffee that seemed to make “just one piece” nearly impossible. Jagielky’s signature Almond Butter Crunch — ABC captures exactly that kind of temptation in a crunchy confection that has become one of the store’s defining specialties.
But Easter and Grandma’s house are where the real memories live. For as long as I can remember, my mother has given my sister and me a large peanut butter chocolate egg and a large coconut egg from Jagielky’s every Easter—the kind of tradition that becomes so woven into the fabric of your life you almost forget to appreciate it, until you realize how many Easters have passed and Jagielky’s is still there, still part of the ritual.
My grandmother lived on chocolate. Some people make that joke, but she really did. Grandmom’s countertop always had chocolate-covered marshmallow clusters , almond butter crunch, and an assortment of other chocolates tucked away. Some people have family heirlooms; we had Jagielky’s chocolates in the pantry.
That is the real power of a business like Jagielky’s. It doesn’t simply sell something people enjoy. Over time, it quietly finds its way into family rituals.
Filled chocolate eggs are a Jagielky’s Easter tradition — peanut butter, coconut, and other seasonal selections. Photo: Jagielky’s Homemade Candy.
More Than Just a Candy Counter
Jagielky’s has grown a substantial gift and special-event side of the business, offering assorted chocolate boxes, custom trays, baskets, gift towers, treat bags, party favors, wedding selections and corporate gifts. Customers can select favorite pieces, work within a particular budget or create a larger presentation for a celebration, client list or holiday gathering.
Tough suitable for all ages, it’s also worth noting that Jagielky’s has evolved into something more of a grown-up’s candy destination than a kids’ shop. The emphasis on sophisticated flavor combinations—sea-salt caramels, toffee confections, cream-filled chocolates with complex fillings—appeals to customers looking for premium confections rather than bright colors and cartoon wrappers. That positioning, combined with the premium price point, reinforces why the gift-giving culture has become so integral to the business. You’re not grabbing a quick candy fix; you’re making a deliberate choice to invest in something better.
The result is that Jagielky’s draws a wide cross-section: locals who have made it part of their routine, tourists who include it on their Shore itinerary, and customers from across the island who understand that some gifts and personal indulgences are worth the premium. For anyone who lives in Ventnor, a box of Jagielky’s is simply what you bring to dinner.
Small-batch chocolates from Jagielky’s include nut, cream, caramel, toffee and other handmade specialties. Photo: Jagielky’s Homemade Candy.
A Candy Calendar That Changes With the Seasons
Jagielky’s is a year-round business, but the candy counter still follows the seasons. Certain treats arrive for a limited window, giving longtime customers another reason to keep checking back.
Valentine’s & Mother’s DayChocolate-covered strawberries become seasonal headliners. |
Mid-June Through JulyFresh chocolate-covered blueberries arrive for the summer fruit season. |
SummerCreamy fudge joins the warm-weather candy lineup. |
SeptemberCaramel apples — including chocolate and chocolate-with-nut varieties. |
EasterFilled eggs, mini coconut creams, bunnies, baskets and traditional holiday treats. |
St. Patrick’s DayIrish potatoes make their seasonal appearance. |
Fresh blueberries are among Jagielky’s seasonal summer traditions. Photo: Jagielky’s Homemade Candy.
From Ventnor Avenue to Primetime Television
One of the most entertaining chapters in Jagielky’s history began with an unexpected phone call. According to the company, a regular customer contacted the shop and urged them to turn on a popular television sitcom set in the Philadelphia suburbs. Jagielky’s had unexpectedly been mentioned as a Valentine’s gift a character was excited to receive.
The show was The Goldbergs. The explanation makes the cameo even more fitting: one of the show’s writers remembered the candy from childhood and put that memory into the script.
A local candy shop had followed someone’s childhood memory all the way from the Shore into a television writers’ room.
That little piece of television history neatly summarizes the larger Jagielky’s story. You don’t have to live in Ventnor forever for a Ventnor tradition to stay with you.
Why Places Like Jagielky’s Matter
There are bigger candy companies. There are faster ways to make chocolate. There are certainly easier ways to operate a retail business than producing small batches in the same Shore community where customers buy them. But efficiency isn’t the entire point.
The independent businesses that become landmarks do something larger than transact with customers. They create continuity. They give a street an identity. They become reference points in family stories: the store next to Mom’s shop, the chocolate we always got at Easter, the place Grandma took us, the box we brought home from the Shore.
And because Jagielky’s still makes much of its candy at the Ventnor store, there is an unusually direct line connecting the business’s past to its present. The recipes developed by George Jagielky remain part of the company. Copper pots and small batches still have a place in the process. The Ventnor Avenue storefront is still serving customers. Another generation of the family has taken part in keeping the tradition alive.
That is what more than 50 years of local business history looks like when it hasn’t been reduced to a plaque on the wall. You can still walk in and taste it.
“The Original” — Jagielky’s Homemade Chocolates, a Ventnor tradition since 1972.
Visit Jagielky’s Homemade Candy
The Ventnor shop is open year-round and remains both a retail candy store and a center of Jagielky’s candy-making operation. Hours can change seasonally or around holidays, so it is always smart to confirm current hours before making a special trip.
🍫 Ventnor — The Original Shore Store
5115 Ventnor Avenue
Ventnor City, NJ 08406
Phone: 609-823-6501
Current posted hours:
Monday–Saturday: 9:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
Sunday: 10:00 a.m.–5:00 p.m.
Why this location matters: Jagielky’s says most of its homemade candy is made here in the Ventnor store.
Still Homemade. Still Local. Still Ventnor.
More than half a century after George Jagielky opened the Ventnor store, the reasons people keep coming back are remarkably uncomplicated. The chocolate is good. The recipes have history. The candy is still made in small batches. The store is still part of Ventnor Avenue.
And somewhere along the way, generations of customers stopped thinking of Jagielky’s simply as a candy shop and started thinking of it as part of their own Shore story.
Maybe your Jagielky’s memory is Almond Butter Crunch after the beach. Maybe it’s a box brought home for the holidays. Maybe it’s chocolate-covered fruit in summer, a caramel apple in September or a giant peanut butter egg waiting every Easter. Or maybe you haven’t made that memory yet.
In that case, there is a candy counter at 5115 Ventnor Avenue that’s been helping people get started since 1972. Stop in, follow the smell of chocolate, and discover one of Ventnor’s sweetest traditions for yourself.
About this Business Spotlight: Historical, product, location and operating information was researched using Jagielky’s Homemade Candy’s official website and Visit Ventnor / Ventnor Business Association resources. Store hours and seasonal offerings can change; contact the business directly for the latest information. Photographs shown above are externally hosted by Jagielky’s Homemade Candy or Visit Ventnor and remain the property of their respective owners.
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