On November 27, 2021, store owner Felicia Evans Long will celebrate the 9th Anniversary of Sweet Candy Café in Historic Downtown Lumberton, North Carolina. The store will host a festive event during American Express ShopSmall Saturday with goodies, ShopSmall paraphernalia, and more while maintaining social distancing guidelines. Masks will be required. In-store shopping is available but online shopping is strongly encouraged.
"We hope Historic Downtown Lumberton will continue to support us, and help us finish the year strong,” says Evans Long. “Sweet Candy Café isn’t just a small business, we’re a part of the community.”
Sweet Candy Café hosts school supply and holiday toy donation drives and donates essential items to the pediatrics unit for patients that are in the hospital during the holidays every year to give back to the community. A portion of the sales from the weekend will go towards the Timothy Rodney Long Memorial Scholarship Fund, an annual scholarship awarded to a deserving student at a preparatory school in the late co-owner’s hometown.
Despite many challenges since opening, Sweet Candy Café continues to be a fun place for the local community, I-95 travelers, and many other supporters who visit and shop for their favorite childhood candies. “We are resilient. We survived a fire in 2012, the loss of co-founder Timothy Long in 2014, Hurricane Matthew in 2016, Hurricane Florence in 2018, and COVID-19 in 2020 and 2021,” says Evans Long. “We continue because we love confectionery products and making people smile.”
Evans Long is a graduate of Shaw University in Raleigh, NC, where she earned her BA in Sociology and was named a Vanguard Fellow in 2019. She received her MBA from the University of Phoenix and completed the Bank of America Institute for Women's Entrepreneurship program at Cornell University. Evans Long has always had a passion for sweets and is an active participant of the Sweets and Snacks Expo held yearly in Chicago, Ill., the largest candy expo in the world.
About Sweet Candy Café
Sweet Candy Café is a Black and Woman-Owned business in the heart of Historic Downtown Lumberton, NC. The store’s grand opening was nearly derailed by an October 10, 2012, fire that destroyed several local businesses in downtown Lumberton. The Longs rebuilt with the help of building owner Dick Taylor, friends, family, and community. For the latest updates on Sweet Candy Café, shop and visit online at https://www.sweetcandycafe.com, Like us on Facebook, Follow us on Instagram @SweetCandyNC, and Follow us on Twitter @SweetEvents1.
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Press Release: https://www.pr.com/press-release/848367