Local candy manufacturer Galerie Candy & Gifts has a national presence in big retail names like Walmart and Target, plus its own shop in Hebron.
The store has been in Northern Kentucky since 2000, and the company is considered an early innovator in candy and gift items. It has a license for names like SpongeBob, Bluey, Hello Kitty, Star Wars and other collectibles.
Galerie Candy & Gifts CEO Rick Ross started the company in the 1980s by selling jellybeans from his high school. It has since grown into the world’s largest producer of prefilled eggs. The company has its only physical retail store in the country, located in Northern Kentucky.
“As he (Ross) was getting more ingrained within the candy industry, really was one of the early innovators by taking candy and pairing it with a license,” Galerie Candy & Gifts Marketing Director David Bishop said. “So now our big business is we’ll take a license like SpongeBob or Hello Kitty or our newest license bluey and do marshmallow heads or take a piece of chocolate and then have a collectible that’s along with it. So, we do candy and gifting items for all seasons, such as Halloween, Christmas, Valentine’s and Easter, as well as everyday items like bringing Kellogg’s cereal straws back.”
In Northern Kentucky, the company develops ideas, creates the packaging, and works with the licensor on approvals. Bishop said they also search the world for innovative products that they can integrate and distribute into the US market.
All the items they send across the country are available at their Hebron location. Bishop said the company sends millions of prefilled eggs to retailers nationwide annually.
The company is also one of the largest manufacturers of heart tins. Bishop said if you walk into a Walmart and see a tin with, say, the Superman logo, that’s Galerie.
“Those tins have been a staple in retail stores for well over a decade,” he said.
If you walked into the shop today, you would find many prefilled plastic Easter eggs for basket fillers or egg hunts.
“We have it sectioned off, so if you’re looking to build a specific license Easter basket, like a Bluey basket, we have all these really cute basket fillers as well as some digitally printed eggs you can find at the store,” Galerie Candy & Gifts Marketing Specialist Erica Almquist said.
Bishop said their store is known for case deals. So, if they have clearance or overstock items, they sell them in the retail store for up to 80% off the retail price.
“If you make the drive to Hebron, you can find stuff for all your children, great basket stuffers, as well as for egg hunts, you can get everything you need in one place,” he said.
