15/08/2026
We get a lot of people asking “Why a candy store?”, “What made you want to do this?”
I always have a quick answer for them but I wanted to stop and share our story.
My name is Molly Mendoza (Araujo), I was born and raised in North Platte, NE. As a young girl my mother instilled a love of sweets and candy. Not in the, I need to have candy kind of way, but in a “lets have an experience” kind of way. If we went out of town, we were hunting for a candy store wherever we were going.
I still remember my first candy store she ever took me to. It was a small little store in downtown Omaha. It had these steps that you walked down when you entered it and the first pieces of candy I saw were licorice pipes and licorice mice. I was instantly enthralled with the whimsy that one feels when you enter a shop solely dedicated to sweets. It has stuck with me ever since and to this day no matter where we go, my family knows, Mom is going to find a candy store. Usually bookmarking it before we leave the house.
I longed for so long for North Platte to have a candy store. After years of wishing and waiting, and getting my husband on board, we finally took the leap. A leap of faith nonetheless but a leap. To me candy is so much more than a treat, it’s a memory to be made. We want you to have an experience the moment you walk in. We want you to smell the candy, hear the oldies playing on the radio, taste the sweets that take you back to your childhood. To share what you had with your kids or grandkids, or just take you back to a simpler place in time, if only for a moment.
North Platte, we can’t do this amazing shop without you. Thank you for supporting us and loving the shop we have started. We have so much we want to bring you in the near future. We thank all the surrounding areas for supporting us also. We love seeing new and returning faces and we love to hear your stories too. Thank you to our downtown for welcoming and believing in us. Here’s to making the years to come a little more sweeter!
Love your local W***y Wonka.