Webb City staple opens doors to new horizons
Tom Hamsher, stands inside the restored kitchen of the Minerva Candy Company, Webb City. Tom and his wife Mary own the espresso bar and deli.
Minerva’s Candy Store has been a Webb City favorite for 100 years, but don’t let the name fool you, it also has a full deli now and many other new, exciting options.
The current owners, Tom and Mary Hamsher, bought the business in 2011 from the Mallos family who had owned it since 1921. The Hamshers dove into an extensive restoration project, and since Minerva’s has been reopened, they have seen a steady increase in business.
Tom Hamsher attributes the regenerated interest to how it is bringing more entertainment and nightlife to Webb City. Minerva’s has live local music weekly. The Hamshers have other plans to draw in more of a nighttime crowd. They are currently putting together a 1920s-themed murder mystery dinner with local actors.
“My wife and I had been to murder mysteries and we’d been working on the idea of doing theme dinners here just as kind of a way to change the atmosphere,” Hamsher said. “We’re trying to do them at least one a month if not more.”
He said the murder mystery dinner and other theme dinners will be costumed events.
“One of the night’s we’re working on is a movie night where you can come dressed as your favorite movie actor,” he said.
It is located at 12 South Main and boasts the original octagonal tile, beveled mirrors, marble walls, woodwork, and tin ceiling. Even the machinery used to make their famous two-foot candy canes, salt water taffy, and old-fashioned hard candies are the originals from the early 20th century.
The main door opens to the original building—the candy story— bought in 1913 by the Klenkiouses, a Greek immigrant family. Today, it features a candy store, coffee shop, and dessert counter. The restaurant half was originally the Corl Book Store built in 1910. The building changed hands many times over the years, and is probably best remembered by locals as the Webb City Bakery. The Mallos family purchased it in 1990 to use for storage for the candy house. The Hamshers have converted it into an urban-style deli with the original exposed brick and tin ceiling intact.
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