Key Points:
- What: Lammes Candies closing all retail locations permanently
- When: Round Rock store closed April 24, 2026; Austin Airport Blvd. closing date TBD.
- Why: Rising cocoa prices, inflation, and long-term sustainability issues
- Founded: 1885, Austin, Texas, one of the oldest candy chains in the US
- What’s next: Online store stays open while inventory lasts
Around 90% of independent candy stores in the US operate with margins under 10%. When cocoa prices hit record highs in late 2025, jumping nearly 300% over two years, small manufacturers with no pricing power felt it the hardest.
That is exactly what brought down Lammes Candies Austin Texas, a family-run institution that survived two world wars, the Great Depression, and over a century of shifting consumer tastes. On April 24, 2026, customers walking into the Round Rock location found a handwritten notice on the door.
The Lammes Candies closing announcement confirmed what many feared, after 141 years, the Texas candy store chain was shutting down for good. Online sales will continue temporarily while inventory lasts, but the stores are done.
What Exactly Happened to Lammes Candies Candy Store?
The Lammes Candies closed 2026 announcement came in two parts.
First, the Round Rock location put up a notice on April 24, confirming it was permanently shutting. Then came word that the flagship store at 5330 Airport Blvd. in Austin, the location that also houses the company’s candy manufacturing operation, would follow. Co-owner Lana Schmidt confirmed both closures to local media, though the exact last day for the Austin store had not been set at the time of the announcement.
Six years ago, Lammes operated 7 locations across Central Texas. The slide from 7 stores to zero happened gradually, then suddenly.
| Location | Status |
| Round Rock | Closed April 24, 2026 |
| Airport Blvd., Austin (flagship + manufacturing) | Closing – date TBD |
| Online store | Open while inventory lasts |
The History of Lammes Candies Candy Store
This place had real roots.
The story actually starts in 1878, when William Wirt Lamme arrived in Austin from St. Louis and opened the Red Front Candy Factory on Congress Avenue. In one of the more colorful footnotes in Texas business history, he lost the store in a poker game. His son, David Turner Lamme, bought it back in 1885 for $800, and that is the year the brand officially counts as its founding.
From those early days, Lammes Candies Texas Chewy Pralines became the heart of the business. The recipe debuted in 1892, using pecans harvested from trees along the Colorado River. By its peak, the store was producing 2,000 pounds of those pralines every single day.
The company also held some genuine Austin firsts, their lamb logo became the city’s first neon sign, and Lammes claims to have operated the first soda fountain in Texas.
The product lineup that made them famous:
- Texas Chewy Pecan Pralines: The flagship, since 1892
- Longhorns: Pecans, caramel, and chocolate
- Choco’Adillos: Caramel, almonds, and chocolate
- Cashew Critters: Caramel, cashews, and chocolate
- Seasonal chocolate-covered strawberries that locals drove across the state for
The brand also navigated some real adversity. World War II sugar rationing forced them to stop selling their original ice cream and frozen fruit desserts entirely. After the war, those products came back briefly, but by 1965, the family had shifted the whole operation to candy, and never looked back. Until now.
Why Did Lammes Candies Candy Store Close?
The short answer: costs went up faster than the business could absorb.
Why did Lammes Candies close? The company cited “changing market conditions and long-term sustainability issues” in its official statement. That phrasing sounds corporate, but the real picture behind it involves a few overlapping pressures that hit smaller candy makers especially hard.
Cocoa prices are the most direct factor. Cocoa futures surged dramatically through 2024 and peaked in late 2025 at historic highs, driven by poor harvests in West Africa, climate disruption, and tightening global supply. J.P. Morgan commodity analyst Tracey Allen described it plainly: the hangover from Q4 2025’s cocoa price spike carried straight into 2026, creating a historic increase in production costs while retailers refused to let brands pass those costs on to consumers.
For a brand like Lammes, making chocolate-coated pralines by hand at scale, that squeeze was severe.
Other pressures compounding the problem:
- Labor costs rising across Texas
- General inflation pushes up packaging, utilities, and ingredient costs.
- Consumers are pulling back on premium and specialty sweets in favor of mass-market options (Hershey, Mars) during tight economic times.
- Brick-and-mortar retail continues to lose ground to e-commerce.
The family’s statement captured the emotional weight of it: “Lammes Candies has been more than a business; it has been a family legacy spanning generations. We are deeply grateful to our employees, customers, and community for their unwavering support over the past 141 years.” (Source)
What Happens Next for Lammes Candies?
The Lammes Candies last day for the Airport Blvd. The store has not been officially announced yet. The company said it wants to give customers time to visit and purchase before closing. Here is the current situation:
- Online store remains open at lammes.com while inventory lasts
- Existing orders will be fulfilled
- Employees will be supported through the termination process
- Brand sale or licensing, no announcement has been made; this remains unknown
If you want one last box of Texas Chewy Pralines, ordering online now is likely your safest option.
This is Not Just a Lammes Problem: Candy Retail is Under Serious Pressure
The Lammes Candies closing did not happen in isolation.
Just two weeks earlier, on April 15, 2026, Kate Weiser Chocolate, a beloved 12-year-old Dallas artisan chocolate brand, also shut down. Two premium Texas candy stores closing within two weeks of each other tells you something about where the industry is right now.
The broader pattern behind 2026 candy store closures:
| Factor | Impact on Small Candy Makers |
| Cocoa prices up ~300% since 2022 | Direct hit to margins |
| Mass-market brands absorb costs better | Consumers trade down to Hershey, Mars |
| Brick-and-mortar lease costs rising | Fixed costs harder to justify |
| E-commerce shift | Fewer people walking into specialty stores |
| Post-pandemic spending pullback | Non-essential premium items cut first |
Big candy corporations have leverage, they can renegotiate supplier contracts, reformulate products, and spread costs across massive volume. A family-run shop producing 2,000 pounds of pralines a day simply does not have that cushion.
The historic candy store closing of Lammes is a visible marker of a quieter collapse happening across specialty food retail. When ingredient costs spike and consumers tighten, the boutique operators, the ones with actual recipes, actual history, actual craft, are often the first to go.
The Bottom Line
Lammes Candies closed 2026 marks the end of Austin’s oldest continuously family-owned business. Founded in 1885, survived a poker game, survived two wars, survived decades of retail change, and ultimately could not outlast cocoa prices and inflation in 2026.
The Round Rock store is already dark. The Airport Blvd. flagship will follow, closing date still to be confirmed. The online store is the last thread.
If you grew up in Austin stopping at that candy counter, buying pralines for your mom, grabbing a box of Longhorns before the holidays, or just knowing that place was always going to be there, that feeling makes sense. It was genuinely one of a kind.
You can still order at lammes.com for now. While it lasts.
Did you ever visit a Lammes Candies store? Share your memory in the comments below.
