Here are highlights from See’s first century of history:
1921: Charles See opens the first See’s shop, selling confections made from the original recipes of his mother, Mary See, at 135 Western Avenue North in Los Angeles.
1935: See’s comes to San Francisco, the first expansion outside Los Angeles. Four years later, there were 18 See’s shops in the Bay Area.
1939: A shop and miniature candy kitchen were set up at the Treasure Island World’s Fair in San Francisco, where attendees could watch Scotch Kisses and Bon Bons being made.
1940: The grand opening of a large candy-making facility on San Francisco’s Market Street is attended by 8,000 people.
1952: Television’s Lucille Ball and Vivian Vance — aka Lucy and Ethel — learn how to dip and pack chocolates at the See’s L.A. factory in preparation for the uproarious “I Love Lucy” episode that shows them frantically — and unsuccessfully — trying to keep up with the assembly line.
1959: Tanker trucks start delivering ready-to-use Guittard melted chocolate — 52,000 pounds’ worth — to See’s plants in South San Francisco and Los Angeles. This was a first in the candy industry, the company says.
1961: The first See’s outside California opens in Phoenix, Arizona.
1972: Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway buys See’s. The investment guru’s favorite, then and now, is a Mary See original, the Peanut Brittle.
1976: See’s opens its first international shop. That Kowloon, Hong Kong, store is still operating today.
1985: Truffles join the candy lineup. Several flavors, including Raspberry, Cafe Hazelnut, Key Lime and Pineapple, are sold year round. Pumpkin Pie, Egg Nog and others are available seasonally.
1995: Hello, dot-com era. See’s launches a website featuring an online store.
1998: See’s opens a nut-free facility in Burlingame to produce its famous Lollypops. Butterscotch and chocolate are the top sellers.
2003: The first full-scale See’s store in an airport opens at SFO, San Francisco International.
2012: Guinness World Records pronounces See’s special 7,000-pound Chocolate Lollypop the largest on the planet.
2014: Fortune magazine names See’s Candies one of America’s Greatest Brands.
2020: Despite a pandemic that forces a production shutdown, See’s opens a new store in Phoenix and finalizes plans for expansion shops in 2021.
2021: See’s Candies celebrates a full century in business, opens a 251st shop — with more on the way.
Sources: Sees.com; “See’s Famous Old Time Candies” by Margaret Moos Pick; and Mercury News reporting
