Down Home Sweets Opens In Oakland
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Down Home Sweets, LLC offers some of the area’s favorite sweet treats. The new candy shop is located in downtown Oakland.
OAKLAND – Oakland has a candy shop as Down Home Sweets, LLC opened its doors to the public on New Year’s Day. The shop has nothing but sweet childhood memories for Kelli Beckham who equates love with being in the kitchen with her Mama, Sherry Burchfield, learning to stir up a batch of candy.
Kelli and partner Chaille Vanlandingham opened Down Home Sweets as a tribute to those memories and to help children realize that dreams do come true if you work hard and surround yourself with people who support you.
Whether you want a single piece of candy or a custom order, Down Home Sweets is ready to help. Labels are being ordered that will identify the treats as being “Happily Made in Oakland, MS.”
The shop, being incubated at the Chamber of Commerce, is open Monday-Saturday at 304 Holly Street, next door to the Oakland Public Library. Hours are Monday and Friday, 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. , Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday hours are 10 a.m. – 1 p.m. with Saturday hours 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.
“My favorite part of childhood and when I was happiest is when my mom turned up the music, got us all in the kitchen and we made candy. Then, as we got older, we went from just making great candy to creating beautiful ways to package and display it as gifts for our family for the holidays.
“It’s a family tradition. Mama would tell us her childhood stories. Her mom did the same, got ‘em in the kitchen, making candy, telling stories. It’s about joy. I want all children to have that, so we want kids to come in and watch us make candy on select Saturdays. We might even have some candy-making sessions so they can make candy to take home and share with their families,” said Beckham.
The shop has an extensive menu but will “always have some of the favorites” on hand, according to Beckham. Those include old-fashioned corn flake candy, peanut butter balls, divinity, and chocolate covered peanut butter cookies. Most of the recipes come from Beckham’s mom who will continue to work to create new recipes for Down Home Sweets.
Custom orders are available and one of the most popular is The Town Square which includes a variety of candy and cake balls. Beckham loves it when a customer asks “do you think you can make this?” and then describes something they had as a child. “I love a challenge like that,” she said.
They have free samples in the shop and are now taking orders for Valentine’s Day. February 7 will be the cut-off, but if they have availability, they will try to squeeze your order in after that date.
The family never quit making candy, but about three years ago a friend asked Beckham if she could get her mom to make some corn flake candy and suddenly other people started making requests and “it went fast from there. We said we’ve got to figure out how to do this and we did. We are so excited and happy to have this shop open and to have it in Oakland. This is home and we wanted to keep this at home,” she said.
Stop by during shop hours or message Beckham at 662-229-7396 or on Facebook at Down Home Sweets, LLC.
A website is in the works that will allow you to order and to ship candy anywhere you’d like! It will be labeled “Happily Made in Oakland, MS.”
Kelli Beckham, left, and Chaille Vanlandingham, co-owners of Down Home Sweets, LLC, announce their new business at an Oakland Community Brunch during Christmas activities.
