WRENS, Ga. — When Darla Carter and her husband travel, they have an ultimate destination in mind, but they aren’t in a hurry once they leave their home in Northeast Arkansas
“We take backroads, stay off the interstate and stop at whatever catches our eye,” said Carter, who knew they had to stop at the Stuckey’s candy outlet in Wrens on Dec. 2. They were driving through on their way to Kannapolis, North Carolina when she noticed the sign.
Carter came in to take a quick video to send to her mother and buy some of Stuckey’s famous pecan log rolls.
“When we were growing up, Stuckey’s was a thing. That’s why I’m doing a video for her. She would be in Heaven here,” she said.
Stuckey’s attracts visitors like Carter on a regular basis, according to Stephanie Stuckey, who purchased the company in 2019 with a plan to revitalize the business started by her grandfather,W.S. “Sylvester” Stuckey Sr., as a roadside pecan stand in Eastman, Georgia, in 1937.
“We’ve been working hard to make this a destination location,” said Stuckey, Stuckey’s Corporation chair, who has taken over the candy store operations.
Recent visitors have traveled from Massachusetts and Wisconsin to buy the flavors of their childhood memories.
“People don’t expect a little town with a population of 2,000 to have this candy outlet place. We get a ton of traffic from all over,” said Stuckey who emphasized that Wrens is only a 40-minute drive from Augusta.
Not only does the store stock the signature pecan log and bagged pecans, but it has Georgia Grown products and items such as jams and jellies and dog biscuits made by small Georgia businesses. There’s a selection of curated products such as Moon Pies (sourced directly from the manufacturer) in various hard-to-find flavors such as blueberry, coconut and salted caramel. Plus, there’s a range of nostalgic candy.
Customers can fill up tins with candy for holiday gifts.
The store recently expanded its hours to be open on Saturdays with great success, she said, and they are looking at the possibility of Sunday hours.
Stuckey didn’t grow up in the business started by her grandfather.
READ MORE: Pecan log rolls and road trips fuel company’s rebirth
The business grew from the 1937 pecan stand to a small candy kitchen that included signature candies made by her grandmother, Ethel Stuckey. In 1948, the kitchen moved into a candy plant and distribution center in Eastman, according to the Stuckey’s website.
During the 1960s, “Stuckey’s grew into a roadside empire synonymous with the American road trip,” the website said. At its peak, there were 368 stores in 30 states.
In 1964, the year before Stephanie Stuckey was born, Stuckey’s merged with Pet Milk Co.
Stuckey had a different plan in mind when she first bought the company in November 2019.
“I initially thought about reviving the stores,” she said. “We don’t own any of the stores except the candy outlet. There are only a dozen of the original stores still around.”
With only a handful of stores and franchise agreements that were out of date and compliance, Stuckey said it made sense to focus on manufacturing and getting the product into retail outlets.
Stuckey’s weathered the pandemic, but it encountered recent challenges as a result of Hurricane Helene.
According to an article in Pecan South Magazine, Helene caused a 2024 loss of 400,000 Georgia pecan trees and a crop of 36 million pecans. It takes about five to seven years for a tree to produce pecans. The loss of those trees in 2024 equates to estimated loss of $110 million loss over seven years.
Stuckey said Helene hurt, and they have experienced a few supply hiccups as a result. Despite that, they’ve expanded pecan log roll production with new equipment, and they added a third chocolate line at the beginning of December to produce white chocolate candies.
In some ways, Stuckey’s is back to an earlier business model with its store and manufacturing facility in one location now in Wrens instead of Eastman, on a once famous travel route, U.S. Highway 1.
Stuckey has also worked to beautify the exterior of the pecan plant. Two murals have been painted and a third one is scheduled for spring 2026 It will be designed by the University of Georgia’s Lamar Dodd School of Art and children from a nearby after school program will help in its painting.
Six years later, Stuckey is pleased with the progress that’s been made. Her next project will be revamping the website and looking ahead to its 90th anniversary in 2027.
“I like to say we’re not a ‘comeback brand,’ we’re a ‘coming back’ brand. It’s a process, and we’re on that journey,” she said.
Charmain Z. Brackett, the publisher of Augusta Good News and Inspiring: Women of Augusta, has covered Augusta’s news for more than 35 years. She’s won multiple Georgia Press Association awards, is the recipient of the 2018 Greater Augusta Arts Council’s media award and was named Augusta Magazine’s best local writer in 2024 and 2025. Reach her at charmain@augustagoodnews.com. Sign up for the newsletter here.
