140-Year-Old Lammes Candies Shuts Down

Lammes Candies is shutting down after 141 years, ending one of Austin’s oldest family-run businesses. (kvue.com) (kxan.com) The company’s Round Rock store closed on April 24, 2026, and a sign there said the Airport Boulevard flagship at 5330 Airport Blvd. will stay open only “a bit longer.” (communityimpact.com) (kvue.com) In that notice, Lammes said “changing market conditions” and “the long-term sustainability of our operations” drove the decision to close. (kxan.com) (austin.culturemap.com) By Monday, April 27, customers were lining up at the Airport Boulevard store, with the parking lot full as shoppers bought boxed treats and chocolates before inventory runs out. (statesman.com) (fox7austin.com) Lammes matters in Austin because it was not just another candy counter. KVUE described it as Austin’s oldest continuously run family business, and the company says it has been family-owned since July 10, 1885. (kvue.com) (lammes.com) The family history is unusually specific: founder William Wirt Lamme opened an earlier candy business in 1878, lost it in a poker game, and his son David Turner Lamme Sr. repaid an $800 debt and reopened the company in 1885. (lammes.com) (austin.culturemap.com) Its signature Texas Chewie Pecan Praline dates to 1892, and Lammes says the recipe still uses Texas-grown pecans. The Airport Boulevard flagship itself has been there since December 1956. (lammes.com) (austin.culturemap.com) For generations of Austinites, Lammes was tied to Christmas gift boxes, Valentine’s chocolate-covered strawberries, and the caramel-pecan-chocolate candies it sold as Longhorns. (austin.culturemap.com) (fox7austin.com) The company had recently posted a very different message on its own site, celebrating 140 years and saying it was excited to keep serving future generations. Four weeks later, Austin is buying the last boxes. (lammes.com 1) (lammes.com 2) (statesman.com)