Candy surprise!-A very sweet candy spot opens in Hillsboro, il

A sticker on a new door in the small town of Hillsboro, IL reads the open hours. Simple and cute, the sticker is one of the last details of a journey Dylan Richter and his wife Katie Homa have taken to open their fun new candy shop “the Sweet Spot”.

Nine years ago Dylan joined a little 5 person company called DoorDash. Katie was studying at the University of Chicago (she’s now a post doc scientist at UC). DoorDash didn’t stay small for long. She finished school, and they started their life together in Chicago.

Fast forward to the summer of 2020, they decided to move to Hillsboro to be close to family. Dylan’s years at a DD had for a long time felt like it would eventually lead to starting something of his own. Moving back to Katie’s hometown was the reset he needed. They started asking friends, “What do you wish was downtown?”

On a bus ride to a track meet, their friend Zach Reed suggested a candy store, and Katie couldn’t shake the idea. “When Katie and I were dating I was working for the Globetrotters in Phoenix and would come to visit her in Chicago. There was a little candy shop up the street that we would walk to.” Eventually they took the plunge and bought the old Jorn’s Signs building on Main Street.

In January this year they hired cabinet maker Brian Lee and renovator Mike Grantham to start the long process of making this little building into a real live candy shop.

A few lucky local kids got to test out the store this week a give their approval before the grand opening on July 16th (12:30-5)

Safe to say, Katie, Dylan, and their new shop are going to bring a lot more smiles and memories to Main Street in the energetic little town of Hillsboro, IL.

Photo’s by Sophia Kirk. Article by Brian Lee.

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