News and Press
NOTABLE NEWS:
June 8th, 2024 - Read all about it! Len Libby Candies is featured in the "Kid's Review" section of the summer issue of Scarborough Living Magazine! Click here to check it out!
2024:
JUNE 2024
Len Libby Candies has been featured in a blog post written by the Getaway Mavens! Click here to check it out -- not only to see our listing but to see a terrific list of fun things to see and do in the Portland area!
MAY 2024
Len Libby Candies' co-owners John and Gisele DeGrinney were invited to appear on WGME FOX 23's "Good Day in Maine" TV show on May 8, 2024, to talk with hosts Jeff Peterson and Kate Moreau about some of our sweet Mother's Day treats! - Click here to watch the show online!
MARCH 2024
Two Years in a Row! - Maine radio listeners again vote Len Libby Candies as 'Best Candy Shop in the 207'
Scarborough, Maine, March 22, 2024 — It was sweet news last spring when Len Libby Candies learned it had taken First Place in the category of Best Candy Shop in Maine in Portland Radio Group’s inaugural “Best of the 207” radio listener contest — especially when the candy store had not even known about the contest. But when Len Libby learned that it took First Place again, in the second year of the contest? “We were very pleasantly surprised to win Best Candy Store two years in a row!” says Len Libby Candies Co-Owner John DeGrinney. “Last year, we honestly had no idea the contest had even taken place, and ours is a highly competitive category.
“When Portland Radio Group opened the nomination process last fall for the 2023 round, the pressure was on to see if we could win again,” continues DeGrinney, “especially since we could no longer say we weren’t aware of the contest.” And this round was significant, as Portland Radio Group reported that voter participation in the contest nearly doubled year over year. In 2022, the radio group tallied almost 70,000 votes across 240 categories of businesses and services; in 2023, it received nearly 140,000 votes across 250 categories.
A full list of the top three winners in all categories is available at www.bestofthe207.com, or people can pick up a printed copy of the “Best of the 207” Guide at Len Libby Candies, 419 U.S. Route 1, Scarborough, Maine, 04074.
“We’d like to thank the Scarborough community and our great team here at the shop for their support,” says DeGrinney. “None of this is possible without community support and fantastic employees. “Scarborough has been our company’s home since 1926, when the founder, Len Libby, started making and selling candy from his kitchen on Higgins Beach,” explains DeGrinney, noting that the store’s current location has been its main base since the late 1950s. He and his wife, Len Libby Co-Owner Gisele DeGrinney, have made their own home in Scarborough, where they raised their three daughters, Maureen, Meaghan and Grace. “Scarborough is really a great community that has kept our business going strong over many years. We can’t thank our customers enough – those far and wide, but especially those in Scarborough – for making this year’s ‘Best of the 207’ win possible.”
FEBRUARY 2024
-Len Libby Candies and Scarborough Police pair up for Valentine's Day 'Cupid Cops' Program - Len Libby Candies and the Scarborough Police Department paired up to “spread a little love” in the community and deliver nearly 90 boxes of chocolates to residents in the community who have lost a loved one over the past two years. Read the article here!
-Len Libby Candies featured in AAA Magazine article about 9 New England candy shops to watch for Valentine's Day - What’s the first thing visitors notice when entering this nearly century-old shop? Lenny, the 1,700-pound life-size chocolate moose watching over the candy displays. Read the article here!
2023:
OCTOBER 2023
-Len Libby Candies featured in MaineBiz's Food Friday Insider Halloween Article - Halloween can be a bit of a slower holiday than others for Maine's specialty candy shops, but that doesn't stop Len Libby Candies from coming up with fun new treats every year. Read the article here!
SEPTEMBER 2023
-Len Libby Candies and Lenny the Life-Sized Chocolate Moose were among the highlights of News Center Maine's "The Maine Business Show" - The episode aired on NBC Channel 6 on Sunday, Sept. 24, 2023 at 11:00am. Click here to check out our portion of the show, which starts at timestamp 7:25 and runs for about three minutes!
-Len Libby Candies nominated as a finalist in two categories of Down East Magazine's Best of Maine contest - Readers first voted via write-in, from which the top five nominees in each category were chosen to as finalists. The finalists were then voted on by roughly 10,000 voters. Len Libby candies was a finalist in both Best Maine-Made Chocolates, and Best Candy Shop.
JULY 2023
-Len Libby Candies Voted a Neighborhood Fave in Nextdoor’s 2023 Local Business Awards - Neighbors on Nextdoor.com vote for the Scarborough staple as a neighborhood favorite dessert shop
MARCH 2023
-Hard Work Pays Off at Len Libby Candies - Radio listeners nominate and vote for the 97-year-old candy store as “Best of the 207”
Scarborough, Maine, March 22, 2023 — Nothing’s sweeter than learning that your business took First Place in the category of Candy Store in a contest conducted among radio-listening Mainers — especially when you didn’t even know about the contest!
That’s how Len Libby Candies co-owners Gisele and John DeGrinney felt when they learned — through a friend’s text, no less — that they took First Place in the Portland Radio Group’s inaugural “Best of the 207” contest. The contest was conducted last fall, and the results were released in February of this year.
“We couldn’t believe it,” says John DeGrinney. “We didn’t even know about the contest. We’re usually so busy making candy and trying to create a pleasant shopping experience for our customers, we’re often out of the loop on campaigns such as this. So this win was truly organic and a genuine reflection of our customers’ love for our products and our store. We are so very honored.
“We are also humbled,” continued DeGrinney. “We know we are among some stiff competition, with so many great candy companies calling the State of Maine home. The only catch now is, after having started out on top, the pressure’s on to keep it up!” he quipped.
The Portland Radio Group’s “Best of the 207” contest was a new campaign for the organization last fall, in which it invited listeners to nominate and vote for their favorite businesses in any category they wanted. The exhaustive, four-month contest, which the radio group conducted and administered with the help of a third-party sponsor, yielded almost 70,000 votes for more than 750 businesses. The votes were then divided into 240 categories, including Best Candy Store, in which Len Libby Candies placed as the Gold Medal Winner.
Portland Radio Group has said it intends to conduct the contest, which was a resounding success, on an annual basis, with the collection of nominations and votes every fall. To see the Len Libby listing in the group’s online publication with full contest results, profiling all of the first-, second- and third-place winners in all 240 categories, click here. In fact, the online directory is a great retail and service resource for all of Southern Maine, so check it out!