Loft, Inc.

This article is about the candy company. For other companies, see Loft (disambiguation).

Loft, Inc.
Loft, Inc.
Founded1920
Defunct1994

Loft, Inc. was the world's largest maker and seller of candy in the 1920s. It manufactured its own products and distributed them throughout greater New York City and Newark, New Jersey.[1] Happiness Candy Stores, Inc., was controlled by Loft, Inc.[2] Loft, Inc., merged with PepsiCo following an agreement of merger filed in Wilmington, Delaware in June 1941.[3] Loft Candy Corporation was shortly spun off, acquired by Philadelphia retail magnate Albert M. Greenfield's City Stores Company chain. Rapid expansion followed, with Loft's 2,100 employees making 350 products that were distributed over fifteen states along the Eastern Seaboard and Midwest.

A decade of multiple ownership and management changes led to the company declining, accelerated by an acquisition in 1971 by the Southland Corporation. An attempt to stem the issues with the acquisition of and merger with prominent Northeastern confectioner Barricini Candies, Inc., the following year failed, and mass store closures and layoffs began. A 1976 sell-off of the combined operation to Long Island City-based B.L. Candy Company proved disastrous. By 1985 only 40 stores remained in the New York area, with all company retail outlets closing in 1988, followed by cessation of production, and corporate dissolution in 1994.

  1. ^ "Loft, Inc.", Wall Street Journal, November 1, 1916, p. 2.
  2. ^ "Happiness Candy Stores", Wall Street Journal, February 23, 1939, p. 7.
  3. ^ "Loft, Pepsi-Cola Merger Filed", Wall Street Journal, July 1, 1941, p. 2.