CAMDEN — Handy, dandy, it's as sweet as candy. No Christmas stocking is complete without a heaping helping of sweets. We're talking Uncle Willy's Candy Shop, 57 Bay View St. in Camden. Yes, it's the same location they found a World War I machine gun in the basement during renovations.

Karen and Mathew Sutton own and operate the candy shop with their two daughters, Caila and Britney Kaber. Mathew is originally from Virginia and came to Maine in 2009 while working for the federal government. That's when he met and married Karen who had the original Uncle Willy's in Houlton. They married in 2012 and in 2014 Mathew retired from government work and went to work fulltime with his wife.

It was a vacation to Camden that got the couple interested in the town as a location.

"We were wondering why there was no fulltime, dedicated candy store," he said. "There were stores that sold candy, but not a candy store in and of its self."

They decided to purchase the building at 57 Bay View and the renovations started.

Where did the name Uncle Willy come from?

"Willy was the name of my wife's first husband," said Sutton. "His name was Wilhelm and he past away young, leaving my wife with three children. And she was looking for a way to balance home life and work life."

At the time, Karen was living in Massachusetts.

"She was looking for a possible business opportunity," said Sutton. "She ran across online a building that was for sale in Houlton. Karen and her daughter looked at the building, which had a downstairs business space and upstairs living quarters. The building was purchased and the store opened up in November 2008."

"When the kids would leave for school, she would go downstairs and open the shop and when the kids came home in the afternoon they would help in the store," he said.

The shop in Houlton is still open and is run by Karen's two daughters while Karen and Mathew run the shop in Camden.

"The whole idea behind Uncle Willy's is for everybody coming through the door, no matter their age, to recognize something from their childhood," said Sutton. Whether you're in your teens, 20s, 30s, 40s, 70s, 80s, or 90s, we have candy from that era."

"People might think a certain candy bar went out of production a long time ago, but they're still out there," he said. "It's just a matter of finding them."

By the pound, or by the piece, or by the bar, candy comes in all shapes and sizes at Uncle Willy's. You can even buy by the straw. Custom-filled to fit your taste.

"By the straw, yes, that's called a pucker powder station," said Sutton. "Think of it as making your own pixie stick only in very large sizes. From one piece to a bag full and everything else in between, people buy a little and a lot."

"People will grab a basket by the door and fill it, or two baskets," he said. "We even had a candy buffet for a family reunion. One family was giving their mother an 85th birthday party and they bought all the candy she had as a kid. And we provided that right off our shelves."

Uncle Willy's Candy Shoppe is closed on Monday and Tuesdays, and open Wednesdays through Sunday is 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The average person will spend $10 to $12 when they visit the store. And it is a candy store, so they do get inundated with kids at times.

"We get swamped with kids and we enjoy it thoroughly," said Sutton. "We've found out that the children both in Houlton and here in Camden are extremely well behaved. Very, very few exceptions. The kids police themselves. Nobody wants to get barred from the candy store. They are respectful, honest and polite."

Sutton said that half days of school seem to sendthe entire student body in the store at one time or another throughout the day, which lends the question: ‘Do you get more kids or adults in the store?”

"I would say adults," said Sutton. "I would like to give all the credit for this to my wife because she is the motivating force behind all this. She came up with the design and colors, turning this from what it was to what it is."