Toy Joy Celebrates 30 Years With a Candy Shop Expansion
Yummi Joy will start serving sweets in late August
By Kali Venable, 2:37PM, Wed. Aug. 2, 2017
Toy Joy is celebrating its 30th anniversary with a sweet announcement: The longtime quirky toys and novelties retailer will be expanding its candy department into a freestanding concept called Yummi Joy.
Opening in late August, Yummi Joy will offer a wide array of bulk and packaged candies, assorted chocolates, homemade fudge creations, classic sodas, coffee drinks, hot chocolates, and more, at 409 West Second St., in the former space of Cafe Ruckus.
The candy shop, which the Toy Joy team has been planning for more than a year, will be overseen by Vivian “Skylar” Saboda, who recently joined the Toy Joy team as the food and beverage manager after a decade in management roles with national groups Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf and Kilwins Confectionary.
The new concept will also feature nondairy ice cream from Sweet Ritual at a walk-up ice cream window. Sweet Ritual co-founder Amelia Raley first worked at Toy Joy nine years ago, concocting ice cream flavors and serving customers at the former location on Guadalupe and 29th Street before starting her own ice cream line, so Sweet Ritual’s place in Yummi Joy will be a special reunion of sorts.
Both Raley and Sweet Ritual partner Valerie Ward, formerly of Amy’s, will continue to operate their Sweet Ritual retail store in Hyde Park, while Yummi Joy carries a dozen of their nondairy ice cream flavors.
Toy Joy co-founder and CEO Fred Schmidt says the Toy Joy staff is excited to bring tasty new treats and Sweet Ritual ice cream to the Downtown area with the expansion of Yummi Joy this fall.
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Aug. 25, 2017
