You all know the famous SweetHeart Conversation Hearts that come around every single Valentine’s Day with a simple, sweet message for our loved ones. Well, The New England Confectionery Company, otherwise known as NECCO, is sadly no longer producing these lovely candies, meaning we need to find a different way of expressing love to our special someones.
SweetHeart has been creating these famously well-known candies since 1866 and it was taken over by NECCO in 1901. Since NECCO took over operations, these candies have become the most popular-selling Valentine’s Day candy in 21 states. Additionally, The Candy Store has reported that the conversation hearts have become the #1 Valentine’s Day candy in America.
So, if they’re so popular, why aren’t they being produced anymore?
Up until 2018, NECCO was doing really well! But they shut down without warning and announced that they needed to sell. NECCO was then purchased by Round Hill Investments, who sold the SweetHeart Conversation Hearts to the Spangler Candy Company that we know today.
Now, with this movement underway which took place in September of 2018, Spangler quickly realized that they would not have enough time to produce conversation hearts to the public given the time it takes to create them. As a preface, it took NECCO 11 full months to produce just 8 billion Conversation Hearts. That’s a long time! Not to mention every single candy was bought and sold in 6 weeks leading up to Valentine’s Day, so they are clearly a high-demand item.
So, to sum it all up, since the Conversation Hearts weren’t sold to the Spangler Candy Company until so late in the game, there was simply not enough time for them to produce 2019 SweetHeart Conversation Heart candies. Thankfully, the CEO has confirmed that there will be plenty to go around for Valentine’s Day 2020.
Sadly, The Candy Store has reported that with the cease of production of candies this year, SweetHeart Conversation Heart sales are down an entire 80% from last year. It’s recommended that if you happen to purchase a package of SweetHeart Conversation Hearts from Amazon, it’s best to check the expiration date as they may be an old batch from 2018!
For those of you who are bummed out and don’t want to wait until 2020 for new SweetHeart Conversation Hearts, there are some new Sour Patch Kids conversation hearts that you can chew on in the meantime!
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