A Billings Candy Shop With Floats, Fudge and Vintage Fun

A thickly caramel-coated green apple has a certain way of interrupting a sensible afternoon. So does a counter full of truffles, a bag of hard-to-find candy, or a cherry float served at an old-fashioned soda fountain. This Billings stop, just off Shiloh Road, has all of those distractions under one roof.

The shop is built for the pleasant problem of choosing. You can come in needing a small gift or a little something sweet for the drive, then find yourself browsing familiar candy favorites, specialty pieces, handmade confections and a generous collection of treats that look ready for a holiday basket.

It also gives the outing a little more room than a quick candy purchase. Retail displays share space with a 1950s-style fountain, ice cream treats and antique coin-operated machines scattered around the store. A visit can be brief, but it does not have to be.

The candy selection runs from everyday favorites to varieties that can be surprisingly hard to track down elsewhere. That makes the shop useful for a very specific craving, but browsing is half the fun even when there is no particular candy on the list.

Huckleberry sweets are a notable presence here. For travelers looking to take home a regional-flavored treat, huckleberry candy provides an easy starting point, with other huckleberry goodies adding to the choices.

The gift possibilities go well beyond a standard box of candy. Assorted sweets work nicely for children and grandchildren, while the more decorative offerings can fill out a host gift, a holiday package or a care package that needs a little cheer.

Fresh-made fudge gets its own moment. Made in the store and offered in multiple flavors, it is the sort of treat that invites a little deliberation at the case: go with a dependable favorite, or pick a flavor that would be harder to find in an ordinary grocery aisle.

The caramel apples are not shy about their proportions. Large green apples are covered in a thick layer of caramel, making them more of an occasion than a small afterthought at the register.

There are smaller giftable options, too, including caramel apple pops, peppermint bark, toffee and handmade chocolates. A shopper can leave with one indulgent thing for now and a few better-behaved items to share later.

The in-store soda fountain changes the rhythm of the stop. Rather than simply selecting candy and heading back out, you can sit down with ice cream, a milkshake or a float and let the visit stretch a little.

Cherry floats made with local Wilcoxson's ice cream add a particularly classic soda-shop note. The combination of cherry, ice cream and fizz is uncomplicated in the best way, especially after spending time deciding among all those candy displays.

Milkshakes offer another familiar choice, and the fountain's ice cream treats make the shop easy to enjoy with a mixed-age group. One person can hunt for specialty candy while somebody else goes straight for a float.

Not every snack in the shop is built around chocolate or sugar candy. A wide variety of flavored popcorn provides a welcome change of pace and an easy item to bring along for a drive, movie night or gathering.

It is also one of those practical additions that broadens the browsing. A bag of popcorn paired with fudge or peppermint bark makes a more varied gift than a single box of sweets, and it gives the final haul a little salty-sweet balance.

The old-fashioned atmosphere is carried by more than the soda fountain. Antique coin-operated machines are placed throughout the store, so the visual interest keeps appearing as you move from one display to another.

Among the novelty attractions is a Zoltar fortune-teller machine, a playful bit of boardwalk-style theater amid the candy. It is an especially good reason for children to slow down and look around, though adults who remember similar machines from movies and arcades may be just as interested.

These details give the room a vintage candy-shop character without turning the visit into a museum exercise. You can browse for a bag of sweets, pause at an unusual machine, then return to the serious business of choosing fudge.

The shop accommodates several different missions. It can be a place to pick up specialty candies for someone with a favorite old-school sweet, a source for huckleberry treats, or a stop for a more substantial collection of chocolates, toffee and caramel apples.

It is equally comfortable as a family treat outing. Candy displays offer plenty to inspect, the soda fountain supplies an immediate reward, and the machines provide a few extra points of interest between one choice and the next.

Even visitors who are mainly browsing have a lot to take in. The vintage setting and novelty pieces keep the room lively, while the range of packaged and made-in-store treats gives people plenty of reasons to reconsider leaving empty-handed.

The shop is located just off Shiloh Road in Billings, with a free parking lot available. Its setup suits a quick stop when time is short, but the soda fountain and broad selection make it easy to linger over a shake or a bag of specialty candy.

For a take-home assortment, the mix is unusually flexible: huckleberry sweets, flavored popcorn, fresh fudge, handmade chocolates, peppermint bark, toffee and caramel-apple treats all offer different ways to build a bag.