I am giving you 5 cents to go to the penny candy section of the store. What five pieces do you pick? Mine are

[debm55]

a lipstick, 2 pretzel rods. I satellite, and I jawbreaker. You can mix the amounts but it can't go over a nickel. .

[happybird]

1. 2 Root beer barrels, 1 Butterscotch, 1 Tootsie Roll, 1 Gobstopper

I’m thinking a candy necklace is out of the price range. Can’t remember if those were in the penny candy containers at the Village Market or not.

[debm55]

4. I think they were. I remember them, You put the elastic with the candy around your neck and ate as you pleased. Thank

you, happybird. I also loved the butterscoth.

[Island Blue]

2. 4 Zotz & a jawbreaker.

[debm55]

5. Thank you Island Blue. May I please ask--what are Zotz? You must have really liked them as you bought 4.

[Island Blue]

9. Zotz are little hard candies with a sour, fizzy center.

They were my favorite candy when I was growing up in the 70s. We’d walk down to the corner store & I think they cost like 5 cents each. I found some at Five Below a while back - they’re no longer five cents, but I bought some anyway!

[debm55]

10. Thank you, Island Blue. I never knew that.

[livetohike]

3. Can't think of what those little wax pop bottles were called,

but two of those, 2 ufos and a jaw breaker 🙂.

[debm55]

6. Oh yes, the wax bottles with the flavored liquid inside. I think we just called them wax bottles. Ty, livetohike.

[JoseBalow]

11. I think they were called Nickel Nips

Or was it Nip-Its? Something like that

[livetohike]

12. Thanks! Something like that. It sounds familiar. n/t

[Elessar Zappa]

7. I don't think there was candy that cheap by the time I was little.

[debm55]

8. Oh yes, Elessar Zappa. Most corner groceries had them. Mine would give us a little brown paper bag. He would check it

out and replace the candy in the bag. This was during the 60s.

[Hekate]

47. Same here. It may be location, tho, because everything in Hawaii was more expensive...

The candy counter at the Ben Franklin store was a real treat for a kid, but I think the least I could get away with was somewhere between 10 and 25 cents in the late 1950s to mid 1960s. My high school boyfriend whose family came from Indiana remembered bottles of Coca-Cola being about half the price of what we paid in Hawaii.

I loved cinnamon red-hots. There was a hard candy with a butterscotch flavor, too. NECCO candy wafers in their own wrapper. LifeSavers likewise.

[Harker]

13. 2 Leaf brand sour apple gumballs...

1 Atomic Fireball, 2 jawbreakers.

My first allowance was 4¢ per week, so your generosity is remarkable!, debm55!

[debm55]

14. Thank you, Harker. I didn't get an allowance. I would collect glass bottles on the sides of the road and at the ballpark

and return them for money. I bought my comic books the same way. Though they were 12 cents each.

[Harker]

17. You were a more energetic entrepreneur.

I presently pick up cans and bottles that people throw out of their car windows on my rural Hill Road, and get 5¢ each at the redemption center. Added to my own empties, I trade them in for a full beer can occasionally.

The best part is getting in a good two mile walk, and keeping the slobs at bay.

It's my Civic contribution, being recently retired.

[debm55]

19. Congratulations on your retirement. My home life was a mess. So the more out of the house I was the better.

[Harker]

21. I think I understand.

My time away from home was my best time.

Thanks for your fine spirit and good nature!

[debm55]

22. That was when I was a kid.

[Harker]

23. Same here. n/t

[Demobrat]

28. I did that too. Got 2 cents a bottle.

A used comic was 5 cents.

[debm55]

32. Thank you, Demobrat. Did you collect the big bottles too?

[Demobrat]

42. I remember big ones. I think they were rare.

Sometimes we would go door to door in our blue collar Chicago neighborhood and ask if people had empty bottles. They would often give them to us. Easier than hauling them back to the store I guess.

[debm55]

43. And the big ones would get you a nickel.

[2naSalit]

15. I never lived in a city until...

I was in my teens but the "store" that was not the grocery store but more like a mercantile set up, most had a penny candy section. I liked paper candy (buttons of some sugary stuff on a long strip of paper) @ a penny a strip-I'd get 2; red licorice records (little rounds disks of wound red licorice threads with a little hard candy in the center so they looked like a vinyl record) @ 5/penny-I'd get 5; a package of jawbreaker bubblegum, 5 in the package @ 2 cents a package... had to last all week unless we were at my grandparents, gramps would give us a whole quarter on Sundays.

[debm55]

16. Me too, The drug store was right next to my grandparent's house. I would get a quarter. Then I bough a bottle of coke-10

cents and a bag of Synder's BBQ chips. 10 cents. I still had a nickel left and after finishing off the coke would return the bottle and got 2 cents. So I still had 7 cents left and week to add to it by looking for glass bottles. The larger bottles got you 5 cents.

[2naSalit]

18. We did that too...

When I was over seven.

[debm55]

20. Easy way for a kid to raise money. I remember Dad's Root Beer and the larger bottles would get you 5 cents.

[ProfessorGAC]

24. I Loved Sweet Tarts

But, those were 5 cents, so I'd be out of money!.
For ture penny candy (or at least under a nickel), I liked Mary Janes & red licorice whips.
I could 2 MJs & a licorice whip for 5 cents.

[debm55]

33. Thank you . I loved mary janes. Licorice always had to be red.

[Figarosmom]

25. A couple cones with the

Marshmallow that looks like ice cream and the rest in bit o honeys. Make that one cone and add a pixie stick.

[33taw]

26. Loved the ice cream cones, banana kits

[Figarosmom]

27. Slo pokes and

The different tsffys, banana and strawberry.

[33taw]

29. I liked sixlet too.

[debm55]

37. I liked the strawberry taffy. Yummy

[debm55]

34. thank you. I remember them. and the bit o honey.

[Tadpole Raisin]

30. Red hot atomic fireballs and Zotz (can still get on Amazon)

Man I loved them! And if the fireball was really hot you had to take it out of your mouth at least a couple of times. They’re not hot anymore or I deadened those taste buds long ago.

I got zotz awhile back and let someone try them, warning them about the sour fizz. Minutes went by……… wait for it, wait for it…. When the fizzy stuff finally got through the hard outer core, well it was glorious. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!!

Candy bar —-> Heath bar

[debm55]

35. Thank you. That is funny,

[k8conant]

31. Hershey bar for 5 or ...

5 Bazooka bubble gums

[debm55]

36. Thank you, I remember they had the little comic strip inside,

[k8conant]

57. I saved those comic strips.

[OldBaldy1701E]

38. Well, suppose it would be...

Five rolls of SweetTarts! (The penny ones were smaller than the normal rolls.)

or

Five Tootsie Minis!

(Mix and match as desired.)

[debm55]

39. Thank you, OldBaldy1701E. Yummy. Like the 5 tootsie minis.

[dameatball]

40. My go to was Bazooka gum, but also fireballs, root beer barrels, those little caramels with the sugary center.

And yes, the 12 cent comics if I had any money left.

[debm55]

41. Thank you dameatball. I loved those little carmels with the white center and powdered sugar on top. Thanks for bringing

back the memories.

[Wicked Blue]

44. Red and black licorice whips

Candy dots on paper, two root beer barrels

[debm55]

48. Thank you Wicked Blue. I remember them all to well.

[Tikki]

45. 1 Hot Tamale, tiny Red Hots 4pcs, 1 Lemon Heads, 1 Hi-Chew and 1 Gustaf's Double Salted Licorice Chew

Tikki

[debm55]

49. Thank you Tikki. Yummy.

[ailsagirl]

46. Can you even find candy that costs one cent anymore?

Or even 10 cents??
Seriousy!!

[debm55]

50. HAHAHAH. I give you 10 cents because you asked.

[YodaMom2]

51. It's been a while, but here goes:

2 Tootsie Rolls
2 Bit O’ Honeys
A salt water taffy (something fruity)

[debm55]

52. Thank you YodaMom2. Love the salt water taffy. YUMMY

[Gaytano70]

53. When I used to eat sugar, I liked:

Lemon drops
Hot cinnamon
Root beer barrels
Sour cherry
Orange anything

[debm55]

55. Very good choices, Gaytano70

[infullview]

54. Mr Perkins at the candy counter..

I’ll have one pixie stick, one fireball, one squirrel nut zipper, one red licorice lace, and one snowball (these were not individually wrapped, and were chocolate covered cream rolled in shredded coconut. Absolutely delicious and there is no modern equivalent produced today)

[debm55]

56. Thank you infullview. Those chocolate with cream rolled in coconut, sound wonderful.