Nestled in the back of a cottage in the hamlet of Richmond, Illinois, just minutes from the Wisconsin border, is a room dedicated solely to chocolate.
In this special place, on stone slabs, generations of skilled artisans hand-dip the good stuff, creating confections that rival the finest gourmet candies just about anywhere. Customers come back year after year not just for sweets, but for the feeling that some things still run on care and quality rather than volume.
Anderson’s Candy Shop has been around for more than 100 years. The business, first located on Armitage Avenue in Chicago, moved roughly 60 miles north to a popular tourist route on the way to Lake Geneva and other cheesehead holiday spots.
Katie Anderson-Tedder is the fourth generation to run the shop, which also has a smaller location in suburban Barrington. She juggles life with three kids alongside running the business and makes it look easy.
These days, it’s anything but simple.
Anderson told us this holiday season feels unusual. On the one hand, prices are high everywhere and consumers are feeling the pinch. Sure, folks are still shopping, but the average spend per customer is expected to drop 10% year over year this holiday season, according to Deloitte’s 2025 Holiday Retail Survey. Shoppers are seeking deals and discounts in the expectation that the economy is going to weaken, and even Black Friday and Cyber Monday spending is projected to decline after four years of growth, according to Deloitte.
Arthur Tedder, 5, hands a package to Xander Novak, left, as Tedder and his mom, Katie Anderson-Tedder, and his siblings arrive at the family’s candy shop, Anderson’s Candy Shop in Barrington on Nov. 26, 2025. Anderson-Tedder is co-owner of the candy shop, which has been in her family for four generations. (Stacey Wescott/Chicago Tribune)
Yet while Anderson knows shoppers are being more frugal, she hopes there might be a silver lining for smaller shops.
“Because prices are high and consumers are having to be judicious with their spending, we have found it’s causing them to really examine where their money goes,” she said. “And that can be good for brands like ours.”
She might be onto something. Businesses like Anderson’s aren’t just shops — they’re what make Illinois towns livable and lovable. We’re hearing from many people in the Chicago area who are shopping locally this holiday season, wanting to invest in the shops that give our downtowns and neighborhood shopping districts their personality and vibrancy.
And while shoppers may not realize it, these local storefronts aren’t just charming — they’re doing the heavy lifting in Illinois’ economy.
At present, they’re our economic lifeblood; one of the few bright spots in Illinois’ economy in recent years. Businesses with fewer than 50 employees have been the only firms to add jobs on net since the onset of the pandemic, accounting for the creation of more than 170,000 positions, according to an Illinois Policy Institute analysis of Census Bureau data. Businesses with more than 500 employees lost 11,000 jobs on net last year.
We’re rooting for businesses of every size, but Illinois’ economy is leaning hardest on its smaller employers, and they deserve recognition for it. We also feel protective of our small businesses. Volatility and uncertainty hit all employers, but those with smaller margins and less room for error are particularly susceptible.
“If we lose any shopping days in that period between Thanksgiving and Christmas to bad weather or an economic scare in the news, it really hurts,” Anderson said.
As if we needed another reason to hope for mild weather this holiday season.
The name of the shopping game in today’s culture and economy is convenience, but we also want to live in communities with personality. We also enjoy quality. If we want these places to survive for our kids, we need to support them not just with nostalgia — but with purchases.
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