'We don't ever want to change': Schneider's Sweet Shop continues family tradition

On a Friday afternoon in June, children and adults alike filed into the well-lit front room of Schneider's Sweet Shop to peruse a selection of handmade chocolates, fudges, caramels and, of course, the shop's signature opera creams, which were spread out on metal baking sheets behind a glass display.

The candy store in Bellevue, Kentucky has been a Greater Cincinnati staple for 83 years. And little has changed since the shop, at the corner of Fairfield and Foote avenues, first opened in 1939.

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In those early days, Robert Schneider Sr. made every piece of candy himself in a two-car garage behind the Schneider's storefront.

The store has expanded in size since then but it's managed to remain in the family.

After decades making candy, Robert Schneider sold the business on to his son, Jack, in the mid-1980s. Now, Jack Schneider's daughter, Kelly Schneider Morgan, is heading the business.

Morgan began working in the shop when she was 13 years old, she said. She left the shop at around age 20 to work in the hospitality industry, Morgan said, but she returned to the family business just before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Morgan said she worked in the shop for two years before she finally bought it from her parents.

"It's harder than I ever thought it would be," Morgan said of running the business. She said she remembers her parents working long hours in the shop, seven days a week.

"They just wanted to step back from the day to day," Morgan said, adding that Jack and her mother, Kathy, continue to make much of the candy.

Morgan said she makes a lot of the shop's ice cream, but she has a hand in candy-making as well. Her favorite treat to make is the nonpareils, which she takes pride in as they were such a challenge to learn, she said.

Part of the reason Schneider's has managed to stay in the family for the better part of a century is that they enjoy being together. But that heritage isn't exclusive to the Schneider family.

"As far as Schneider's itself, the nice thing about it being around for so long is that it's full of memories for people," Morgan said. "So, people are now bringing their kids and their grandkids ... it's truly part of a family tradition."

The recipes and methods for making candy at Schneider's have changed little, if any, since the late 1930s, Morgan said, adding the shop still relies on original equipment used by her grandfather.

"We don't ever want to change what makes Schneider so special out there," she said. "We want people always to have that memory when they come in of the same smells, the same look, the same everything."

But one thing that has changed over the decades is the shop's ability to reach customers across the country.

Morgan said a majority Schneider's online sales are to customers in Florida, adding the shop does have somewhat of an international presence with sales to Canada as well.

However, Morgan hopes to expand the shop's online business. She said Schneider's is planning to launch a new website over the summer. "I want to keep things the same, but obviously grow things as well," she added.

But Morgan's main goal is to lead the store to its 100th anniversary, she said, and eventually pass the business on to another member of the family.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Schneider's Sweet Shop in Bellevue continues family tradition