NEW CASTLE It's a bit of a bitter ending as Caiazza Candy closes

The Caiazza Candy store will close Saturday, but the owners hope it will reopen.
THE VINDICATOR
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR NEW CASTLE BUREAU
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- There is very little candy left and only a few knickknacks on the shelves at Caiazza Candy.
Felicia Caiazza-Francisco looks soulfully around the store in Union Square Plaza explaining how her eyes well up with tears when faithful customers come in to buy their last candy.
The store and the candy makers are closing their doors Saturday.
"The hardest part for me is the family aspect and tradition. It's a dying trade to have hand-produced chocolates," Caiazza-Francisco said.
She and her brother, Matt, were the third generation to operate the candy-making business, but production was halted last summer when fire destroyed their West Washington Street plant. The cause of the blaze has never been determined.
Getting through
The Caiazzas were able to fill their orders with the help of other area candy makers who allowed them to use their plants in off hours to produce Caiazza Candy, but the company hasn't been able to get back on its feet.
Caiazza-Francisco said she is hopeful that they will settle with their insurance company and eventually get back into the candy making business.
The decision to close came as their lease in the Union Square Plaza was up and the company was still without its own manufacturing plant, she said.
"Eventually we will settle [with the insurance company] and hopefully we'll be in business again," she said.
The business started in 1932 by brothers Ludwig and Tony Caiazza. The brothers learned the art of candy making in their native Italy and brought it with them when locating in New Castle. The business was sold in 1960 to Rich and Irene Downing, but the Caiazza name remained.
Caiazza-Francisco and her brother took over the operation about 14 years ago, she said.
About 75 percent of their business was wholesale. The company's candy was sold in stores such as T.J. Maxx and Marshall Fields, Caiazza-Francisco said.