The Good Ship Lollipop candy store in Oak Bluffs is closing due to financial problems caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Shop owner Marguerite Cook told The Times it had always been her dream to open a candy store that could provide a fun experience for kids and families.
After she retired from her job as the tax collector in Oak Bluffs, she sought to fulfill that dream, and opened her first candy store in Vineyard Haven in 2004.
Cook’s love for candy stores started 65 years ago, in a small sweetshop at the bottom of the street where her family lived when she was a child.
“I have 12 brothers and sisters. We would go there and as soon as we walked in the door, the owner would say, ‘Now don’t touch anything,’” Cook laughed. “I always said, ‘When I open my own candy store I’m never going to say that,’ and I really haven’t.”
After a season in the Vineyard Haven shop, Cook said she wanted to return to Oak Bluffs, so she moved into a small space next to the old laundromat.
Cook said her focus at Good Ship has always been providing a memorable experience for her customers, and dishing out tasty candy made right in the shop.
“It’s always been a nice hands-on thing for people, and it was just wonderful seeing the parents and kids come in and really enjoy themselves — that’s what it’s all about,” she said.
Eventually, Cook’s old friend, Walter R. Stacy (who owned Hilliard’s Kitch-in-vue Candies after David Hilliard) suggested that she move her candy store into the Hilliard building.
“Of course, I jumped at that opportunity. So then, I finally had enough space to make my own chocolates,” Cook said.
Stacy’s daughter, Brenda, taught Cook how to make chocolates, and worked at the candy shop as her chocolatier for several years.
“I loved it, Brenda loved it, and everyone that came in loved it. It just made everyone feel good,” Cook said.
But before heading back home from a vacation in Florida to see her sisters, the pandemic hit.
Cook’s doctors advised her that because she has lung issues, she should avoid traveling, and stay in Florida until things get better.
After five months, Cook returned to the Island, and was looking to reopen the Good Ship Lollipop, but by that time it was already halfway through the season, and the health crisis was still raging.
“When I talked to the board of health and other people so I could open, they said the store was too small for us to let people in,” Cook said. And to make candy in-house, the store needed to adhere to all health precautions, which meant putting up Plexiglas, purchasing personal protective equipment, and other expenses.
“With all those health concerns, and how much it would cost, we decided it was best not to open, and just try to wait it out,” she said. “We held on, just waiting, and COVID never went away.”
After 16 years in the candy business on-Island, Cook decided to put the shop on the market at the beginning of December, wondering if someone might take over.
“No one wanted to take over a business, because so many were closed and people were hurting,” she said.
After a final liquidation sale, Cook said, the business will close for good. “That’s what happened to the Good Ship Lollipop, it had to sail away.”
