The 138-year-old James Candy Co. has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection for the first time in its history, citing this summer's rainy weather as the final factor after more than a decade of declining Boardwalk visitors and sales, the Press of Atlantic City reported. "When you have the weather patterns we had this summer — our business was just very affected," said Chief Operating Officer Lisa Glaser Whiteley. "And the cost of doing business doesn't change, except to go up." The spring and summer were both rainy this year, she said, resulting in a sales decline of 11 percent from January to September. That followed a 12 percent sales decline in 2017, she said, for a total of 23 percent in less than two years. James Candy Co. is owned by the Glaser family. It has 11 retail outlets in the mid-Atlantic region, including New Jersey locations in Atlantic City, Ocean City, Wildwood and Cape May, and has a national wholesale and direct mail-order business. Its brands are James Confections, Fralinger's Salt Water Taffy and Bayard's Chocolate Stores.
