North Star Orient to bring candy, convenience and nostalgia back to former Candy Man site

The sweet smell of nostalgia is coming back to Orient. After a handful of months, the iconic Candy Man site is getting a new lease on life — with plenty of candy to go around.

Introducing, North Star Orient, owned by Attorney Don Jayamaha and ran by tenant and designer Lucy Barnes.

“We wanted to continue something that has been an important part of Orient and the North Fork for decades,” Mr. Jayamaha said. “The Candy Man has been a community fixture for 38 years, and people repeatedly tell us that they wanted to see it return.”

The long white building, repainted to look like the gas station from the 1960s, will feature the beloved candy store, with the addition of a convenience store with grab-and-go items, an antique store, a small area that will sell products such as band-aids, sunscreen, batteries and a place to fill up your personal water bottles for free.

The table that was used by the Michta family to temper the chocolate, will stay in the shop and be part of the operation. The Candy Man closed the day before Easter, leaving the community with uncertainty on the future of an Orient staple.

“Candy will be spread throughout the building, rather than being confined to the central room,” Ms. Barnes said. “There will also be an old-fashioned pick-and-mix section, with roughly 40-50 different kinds of candy, allowing customers to choose individual pieces rather than buying large bags.”

“We tried to preserve as much of the original character as possible, including original shelves, cabinets and other historical features, we just painted over them,” Ms. Barnes said.

She said she would also like to become a vendor for the Southold Town Yellow Bag program, offering the highly-requested garbage bags to be purchased at 22350 Main Road.

Mr. Jayamaha and Ms. Barnes shared stories with The Suffolk Times about shoppers approaching them on the property, begging for the candy to return — some with tears in their eyes. Good news, the candy will return. The duo intends for some of the chocolate to feature organic ingredients, and for some of the nostalgic items — like the chocolate bunnies — to return.

“There was this huge truck with a tank on it to fill swimming pools and it came down the road, blocking all the traffic,” Ms. Barnes said. “Everyone was honking at him. He came in and asked for caramel turtles. He caused all that commotion just to get one particular type of candy.”

It was a longtime coming, as the store starts to come together under new ownership. Mr. Jayamaha said when he first came to see the store, he told Debbie Michta, the wife of Jim, that he was going to buy this from her.

She said, “God, can I please hug you?”

Mr. Jayamaha told The Suffolk Times that he intends on having Tesla superchargers on the adjacent property next to the little white building. A crypto currency ATM is hoped to sit outside the long building, offering customers the ability to withdraw crypto or regular money. A bicycle shop is expected to open in the shed behind the property.

The plan is to serve the community seven days a week, and while the hours aren’t confirmed, they’ll be open from at least 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. If doable, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. is possible.

“I think we’ll build on what people are asking for,” Ms. Barnes said. “We’ll listen to what people say, like, ‘please stock this.'”

The North Star name was created by Ms. Barnes, a Scotland native. Though she lives out in Orient now, she has family all over the world, but one thing has remained constant.

“At least we’re all looking at the same stars,” Ms. Barnes said. “The family also has a long connection to sailing.”

Ms. Barnes is a longtime Orient resident, has six children and has spent years visiting the Candy Man. She has experience in retail and a strong interest in historic preservation. She saw the property as an opportunity to preserve an important local tradition rather than allow the historic site to become something unrelated to its past.

“I see this as almost like a visitor center, here,” Ms. Barnes continued. “It’s everyone’s first store when they get off the ferry, the first place they see that they can stop at. It’s an opportunity to educate people about the North Fork. This is a great place to give out maps of wine trails, bicycle trails. I’m hoping to work with other organizations that would put their maps here, to educate people about all the things you can do off of Main Rd.”

The hope for Mr. Jayamaha and Ms. Barnes is the next chapter of the Candy Man — North Star Orient — will open to the public within the next few weeks.