Aug 17, 2021 2 min read

Being in tight quarters with a heap of boxed chocolates usually is a good thing – actually, a wonderful thing. But it wasn’t a practical thing, according to Bill Sarris.

“We were squeezed for space and decided to make a big move,” said the president of iconic Sarris Candies, a specialty chocolate and candies operation.

The company on Thursday closed on the purchase of a 130,0000-square-foot industrial building, where it will construct a production facility that will make and package its much-coveted treats. That large structure is at 135 Meadow Lane in Canonsburg – which Sarris referred to as “the old Fort Pitt Bridge Works,” and which he said has been updated.

The new plant will be about a mile from the candy store/ice cream parlor, which also is located in the borough, where production and packaging currently takes place. Sarris said the future facility is projected to be operational Sept. 1, 2023.

“We need production space,” he said. “This will give us a chance to be a lot more efficient, and move product better. It’s more logistics than anything.”

Sarris said the company is in the design stages with architects “on building out the inside of the facility.”

As for the existing destination store, at 511 Adams Ave., the company “will be moving some things around” and perhaps expanding certain interior facets.

As for thhe exterior?

“The products won’t change, and the candy store and ice cream parlor will stay the same,” Bill Sarris said. “From the outside, no one will see any changes.”

His father, Frank – known appropriately as “The Candy Man,” launched the business in the early 1960s after learning how to make chocolates in the basement of his Canonsburg home. Frank Sarris died in 2010.

One of his legacies is a sweet business that attracts thousands of customers each year and continues to grow.