Popular Doylestown Chocolate Shop Has A New Home On Oakland Avenue

DOYLESTOWN, PA — Raymer’s Homemade Candies has reopened on East Oakland Avenue after relocating to a much larger space across the street.

Since June 23, the store has been closed as the owners and employees relocated the popular store across the street to its new location inside the former offices of the Bucks County Area Agency on Aging.

Inside its new home at 30 East Oakland Avenue, the business boasts expanded retail operations on the main floor with candy-making operations coming soon to the downstairs.

The move will allow the Raymer family to bring its candy-making operations back to Doylestown. Due to the growth of the business, the owners were forced to move their candy-making to Telford a decade ago.

Sue and Mark Raymer opened the store in November 2001 after relocating to Doylestown from Wisconsin where they ran Raymer's Candies in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. That's where Sue's husband, Mark, learned the candy-making trade from Sue's father, Royal Brazier.

Brazier began working for Hope’s Candies when he was 12. He later bought the business, making candy for the next 60 years for the people of Fond du Lac. When he retired, Mark took over the business in 1967 and renamed it Raymer's.

As an apprentice to his father-in-law, Raymer learned the art of candy making from recipes dating back to the late 1880s, using only the finest natural ingredients available, and a process based on the natural caramelization of fresh cream and sugar.

A Raymer's Homemade Candies Gift Box. (Raymer's Homemade Candies Facebook Page)

The couple moved east to Doylestown in 2001 to be closer to their children, who were both living on the East Coast. Fortunately for Doylestown, they brought their love of candy with them.

In November 2001, Sue and Mark opened Raymer’s Homemade Candies on East Oakland Avenue.

“We bought our first piece of machinery the day before 9-11,” said Sue. “That was a little scary, but we continued and here we are. Doylestown is the perfect place to have a candy store. The customers are wonderful. They support the downtown. The town is easy to work with. It’s just a great place.”

The move across the street is the first major expansion of the store since it opened in November 2001.

“When we originally opened we made the candy in the candy store,” said Sue. “We ran out of room. So we looked around and found a warehouse-type building where we could make the chocolate. That has been a little straining because you have to bring the chocolate in every day.”

With this move, they will once again have everything - retail and manufacturing - under one roof.

"You will once again be able to watch our team of chocolatiers make delicious homemade treats every day," said the Raymer's. "We're also hoping to be able to start offering dipping parties and tours again, too!"

The family-run business is owned by Mark and Sue Raymer and is operated with lots of help from their entire family. Their daughter, Lisa Kujath, runs the retail portion of the business while Mark Raymer himself makes the candies with some help from his son Cory and son-in-law, Kelly. All six grandchildren have helped in different ways as the whole family has a true love affair with chocolate.

Mark still follows original recipes passed down from his father-in-law using only pure Belgian chocolate in his creations, making them some of the best-tasting chocolates around.

Customers are encouraged to stop by and welcome the Raymer's to their new home and to buy some of their homemade chocolate to take home and enjoy.

The store is located at 30 East Oakland Avenue. Hours are Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, visit https://www.raymerscandies.com