COLLINGSWOOD STAYS HOME

MAY, 2020

Whether it’s surviving a pandemic or running a small business, the support of family is everything. The Barone family own and operate two popular Collingswood staples. Paula owns The Candy Jar, while her husband Giovanni runs Villa Barone a few blocks down the street. Managing two small businesses while parenting is no easy feat, so please support this team by shopping local - their gelato is incredible!

What has been the most difficult part of this time for your business?: The hardest part has been seeing the store empty without our customers. The Candy Jar is a happy business where we usually see a lot of kids and families coming in excited about the treats they are picking. To see the store empty Without our customers is very sad. The uncertainties of survival and worries about our employees.

What is your silver lining? What is something positive that has come out of this either for your business or for your personally?: I guess spending time with the family during the weekends has been nice since retail hours are demanding. We’ve been able to catch up in some work that is always left behind.

How is this time changing your business? Have you changed how you serve clients/customers?: oh yes! We had to very quickly put the business in survival mode. We’ve had to get very active in social media and activated our website. We’ve had to take orders by our cel phones or text message, thru Facebook any kind of way that we can communicate with our customers. We deliver, ship or do no contact pick up. This has changed the whole game altogether.

What are you most worried about?: Being able to survive and our employees.

How can the community best support you during this time?: By shopping in our stores. Instead of buying their candy at the big stores getting it at The Candy Jar. The more we sell the more chances we have to survive and succeed.

What are you most looking forward to when the stay at home order is lifted and things reopen?: Opening the store because we have employees that depend on that income to live. And to see all those happy faces coming thru our doors with excitement about sharing some sweets with the family.

Do you expect this time to change your business in the long run?: Absolutely! I think it will make us more efficient in all aspects. We are going to be constantly looking for ways to improve. We have opened e-commerce that has been delayed for such a long time and now due to the situation. It has forced us to activate this part of the business. We will need to find ways to engage better with our customers and create a safer and better environment.

Why is this time meaningful for you to document?: I guess because this is something that we all will remember for the rest of our life’s, it will pass down to history . We never ever thought something like this will be a really happening to us so quick.

What do you love move about Collingswood?: What I love about Collingswood is the community. Neighbors are great! We love to see our customers grow from when they come small with their parents or grandparents to see them come in after some time with their friends in their bikes. To see people that grew up in Collingswood visiting the town and telling us how it was when they grew up here is pretty neat. This tells you a lot about the great community we have here.

Anything else you'd like to share with me?: We opened a new location in Bordentown City right before Valentine’s Day with a lot of excitement and a little over a month after we where in this situation having to close our doors! however we have been very fortunate that customers have been very supportive on both locations thru this harsh time! It’s been quite a ride!