Candy store owner Lillian Turano has always had a sweet tooth. In fact, when she was about 5, she ate all the candy canes that were at just her height off her family's Christmas tree.

"I used to get in trouble, actually," said Turano, whose mother's name, incidentally, is Candy Grubb. "I love anything sweet."

Now she's the owner of the vintage candy shop Sweets on High, which opened Oct. 1 in Wadsworth. Her goal was to bring an old fashioned-style candy shop back downtown, similar to the former Carolyn's Cupboard that she used to take her children to when they were little.

"We wanted to bring like the vintage and the homey downtown feel back to Wadsworth," she said.

Turano did a pop-up candy store for a week in May in storefront space owned by her friend Rhonda Abbott, who runs Opal Dragonfly boutique in downtown Wadsworth. She said that went so well, she asked Abbott about renting the space to open a full-time candy store.

That's how Sweets on High was born, in the space adjoining Abbot's boutique. The candy store developed a big TikTok following in August before it opened, as Turano and her daughter, 15-year-old Gianna, documented making crafty, oversized candy decorations to publicize the upcoming opening.

The TikTok video that Gianna made — which shows them buying pool noodles, spray paint, cellophane and balls to create big lollipops, gumballs and more — drew 1 million views within four days. Sweets on High's TikTok account now has 1.6 million views and 12,000 followers, which has helped bring kids into the store, Turano said.

"There's a lot of candy that trends on TikTok so we try to make sure we carry what that is," Turano said.

That includes the retro Satellite Wafers, sweets shaped like flying saucers filled with assorted candy beads. That's the candy 10-year-old Kate Love of Wadsworth bought, going right to what she called Turano's "TikTok candy board."

Turano, 48, said husband Aaron and kids, college student Blake and high schoolers Brayden and Gianna, all helped get the candy shop ready, including painting fun pastel stripes on one big wall.

"They have all put blood, sweat and tears into this place," said Turano, who grew up in Akron and now lives in Wadsworth.

The store, located at 110 High St., is built to be kid-friendly. As children stopped in after school Wednesday, Turano asked them how their school year was going so far. She also encouraged them to take a quarter from a dish near the register to help themselves to a big gumball from one of the store's many gumball machines.

More:Local Flavor: River Merchant offers great view, satisfying food in Kent

Kids can also play vintage video games for free, including Pac-Man, Donkey Kong and more. Before opening, Turano was asked if she was going to put a limit on the number of kids allowed in the store.

The answer was absolutely not. Turano's goal was to create a space where kids feel welcome.

"It's all about making them have a place that they can come to enjoy," she said.

She recounted the sweet sight of two boys recently leaving the store with a candy cigarette in one hand and a fun soda in the other.

"This is the next generation of kids doing what we did," enjoying themselves at the neighborhood candy store, Turano said.

Older "kids" have fun at the shop, too. Two young men in their 20s recently stopped in and bought some of her special soda flavors, including sweet corn-, butter- and pickle-flavored sodas. They sat down at the store's lime-green table near the big front windows to sample the unusual flavors.

More:BW grad Eden Mau happy to launch 'Les Mis' tour, follow father's path

"They just sat there and laughed their heads off," Turano said.

On opening day Oct. 1, Turano actually sold out of the pickle-flavored soda, which she's since restocked.

Sweets on High is open 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays.

At this store, you can get everything from bubble gum cigars to Pet Tarantula Jelly Belly gummy candy to vintage Nik-L-Nips — little waxed bottles that kids bite the top off to get to the liquid candy inside. Vintage gums include Beemans, Black Jack and Clove, with the latter having a clove flavor.

Kids can buy four candies for a $1 from behind the counter, ranging from peppermint patties to Swedish fish. Others are three for $1, including vintage Lemonheads, Boston Baked Beans and Charleston Chews. Candy bracelets and necklaces cost 49 cents.

Sweets on High also offers international candies, including Pulparindo from Mexico, featuring real tamarind fruit, and Smarties from Canada, which are actually chocolate.

"If you can find it in a gas station, you probably can't find it here," Turano said of her store's unique offerings.

More:'Legend of Sleepy Hollow' frightful fun for families at Ohio Shakespeare Festival

The store's average candy price is $2, the shop owner said.

Sweets on High also offers ice cream, including FatBoy ice cream sandwiches and Kit Kat ice cream cones, for $1 to $1.25.

"We're trying to make sure that everything is super kid-price friendly," Turano said.

Turano has always been crafty and always loved candy. During the pandemic, she started offering virtual classes for making hot chocolate bombs.

She also started making freeze-dried candies by freezing candies and slowly reheating them while removing their moisture. That causes candies like Skittles to pop and get very crunchy and light, with an intensified flavor.

Turano, who expects approval soon from the Ohio Department of Agriculture to sell her freeze-dried candies at her shop, will make them with her freeze dryer at a commercial kitchen at Radiant Life Church in Wadsworth.

Turano also took the advice of her three kids and stocked some newer, popular candies. They include Nickelodeon Slime, Smarties Squeeze Candy in a tube and Graffiti Splash candy, which you spray in your mouth and changes the color of your tongue.

"Anything sour is super popular," she said.

On Wednesday, 7-year-old Harper Fink of Wadsworth chose a bright pink Sour Flush candy toilet, featuring a sucker "plunger" to dip into sour powder inside the bowl. She also chose a big candy necklace.

"I love these," Harper said.

So what's Turano's favorite vintage candy?

"Nostalgia-wise, the Wacky Wafers bring everything back for me," she said.

The candies, which come in five fruity flavors, are the consistency of big Sweet Tarts but they're not sour, she said.

Arts and restaurant writer Kerry Clawson may be reached at 330-996-3527 or kclawson@thebeaconjournal.com.