About us

In 1981 sister in laws Patty Mckee and Jan Boss opened The Candy Cupboard. Patty ran the shop as Jan at the time owned and operated the infamous Jan’s Red Kettle, today its known as The Red Kettle. Seeing as Jan was busy with the Kettle. Patty soon bought her out and became the sole owner in 1982.  Patty enjoyed the shop and the community. Idyllwild is a small town so to have such a wonderful shop for the local children was a delight.

In late September 2006 Patty was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, while battling cancer she was still hard fast at running the shop.  Durning this time she went into remission but unfortunately in late 2010 her cancer came back. This is when her daughter Jennifer stepped in to help run the shop.  Jennifer had worked in the shop as a teen and as an adult had joined her mom on many buying trips, along with helping her seasonally prepping the shop for the busy holiday season. Unknowingly Patty had been training Jennifer for this through out the years. Patty was a stellar roll model to Jennifer as business owner. Thankfully during the last few years of her life Jennifer was able to have conversations with her mom not only about business but life. Patty had always dreamed of going to the Sweet & Snack Expo in Chicago. This trip meant everything to both Patty and Jennifer, as if was the last trip the two took together.

On September 10th, 2011, Patty took her last breath in the family home, this was not only life changing for the family but the community she had called home and been a pillar in for decades. 

Today Jennifer owns and operates the shop with her daughter Shayde. Together the two have also made the trip to Chicago for the Expo along with Jennifers son Stone. Keeping the shop in the family is something to be cherished. We are so excited to bring you along on our new journey of offering our little shop to you as an online shopper.