Photo by PAULA MULLER
Frances Tilley is the owner of CC’s Candy and Cream on Lowell Street in Peabody.
By GAYLA CAWLEY
PEABODY — Visitors to CC’s Candies and Cream will feel as if they’re taking a step back to simpler times, and that’s just how owner Fran Tilley wants it.
Tilley realized her lifelong dream last September, when she held a soft opening at the 598A Lowell St. store, and then had her grand opening two weeks later in October.
The store sells 21 flavors of ice cream, old-fashioned penny candy, boxed chocolates and fudge in a set-up that is a throwback to the 1950s and 1960s, or what Tilley called it, “simpler times.”
Tilley said she gets her ice cream from Bliss Bros. Dairy Inc., an ice cream manufacturer based in Attleboro. She has a partnership with Russell Stover for her boxed chocolates, and gets much of her candy from the Penny Candy Store, which is based in Sharon.
Before CC’s came to be, Tilley said she had been retired for eight years from her job as a boarding agent for SeaLand-Maersk, and “spent two years doing nothing.”
“I was going out of my mind,” Tilley said.
Tilley said she and her husband, Jim Tilley, both love ice cream and that she always wanted to go into the business. So, she went through a year-and-a-half process, which involved getting different town permits for the store, and eventually got the approval to open.
So far, Tilley said business has been slow. She attributes that to the weather, and opening around holidays like Halloween and Christmas, as she said people tend to already get their candy for those holidays somewhere else.
Tilley said it might be good that their opening was six months before the summer, however, as it gives her time to get the word out about the store and “get the kinks out.”
To boost her revenue in the meantime, Tilley said she crochets hats and baby clothes, which have been a good seller. She also does birthday parties at the store.
With business she has had so far, Tilley said she has been meeting a lot of people. She said she has lived in Peabody for 15 years without knowing many people. With being open for just over three months, she said she has “met so many wonderful people.”
Tilley said she plans to keep the business family run, with help from her husband, sister-in-law Elaine Pifalo and two granddaughters. She also plans to keep her prices low, with much of the penny candy ranging from 50 cents to $1 and a small ice cream costing $3.25.
Frappes are $5 and she plans to introduce a coffee frappe in the summer, which would be made of coffee, ice cream and milk.
Depending on how business is in the summer, Tilley also plans to purchase a soft serve ice-cream machine, as she doesn’t currently serve that. She said the machine is expensive and ranges from $7,000 to $18,000.
Until that happens, Tilley said she can work with what she has and make a variety of different ice cream choices.
“If you can name it, we can make it,” Tilley said.
CC’s Candies and Cream is open from 2:30 to 8 p.m. every day, closed Sundays and Wednesday. Sports leagues, seniors, military, fire and police get 10 percent off.
