By late April 2026, the shelves at Lammes Candies on Airport Boulevard in Austin were nearly bare. Customers lined up to buy whatever remained: boxes of Texas Chewie Pecan Pralines, bags of Longhorns, tins of toffee. Many had driven across town or from neighboring cities after learning that the 141-year-old candy company was shutting down all of its remaining stores.
The Round Rock location closed earlier in April 2026. The flagship on Airport Boulevard is still open but winding down, with no public date announced for its final day of business. When it goes dark, it will mark the end of one of the longest continuous retail operations by a family-owned candy company in Texas.
Lana Schmidt, vice president of Lammes Candies and a member of the founding family, confirmed the closures in an interview with Fox 7 Austin. She acknowledged the emotional weight of the decision but did not provide a detailed timeline for the shutdown or say whether the company’s online store would continue operating after the physical locations close.
A business older than most of Austin
Lammes Candies traces its origins to 1885. According to the company’s website, the founding family opened the Red Front Candy Factory after repaying an $800 debt. The business formally launched under the Lammes name on July 10 of that year. According to the company, it incorporated in 1965 as Lammes Candies Since 1885, Inc. Five generations of the same family have run the operation, with Pam and Bry Lamme among the current principals.
For much of its history, the company was woven into a particular slice of Central Texas life. Its Texas Chewie Pecan Pralines, a butter-and-pecan confection, became a default gift for out-of-town visitors and a holiday staple in homes across the region. The Longhorns, a pecan-caramel-chocolate cluster, were nearly as well known. Lammes operated multiple retail locations over the decades, and its candy turned up in gift baskets, office break rooms, and care packages mailed to homesick Texans around the country.
The company predates much of modern Austin. It was already decades old when the city’s population first topped 50,000, and it survived the Great Depression, two world wars, and the explosive tech-driven growth that transformed Central Texas over the past 20 years.
Why the stores are closing
In a letter to customers announcing the Round Rock closure, the company cited “changing market conditions” and concerns about long-term sustainability, according to the San Antonio Express-News. The letter did not include specific financial figures, and no bankruptcy filings or public financial disclosures have surfaced.
The company has not elaborated publicly on what those market conditions entail. Austin’s commercial real estate costs have risen sharply in recent years, a trend documented by local brokerages and widely cited by small business owners across the city. Consumer spending on specialty food products has also shifted increasingly online, a pattern that has squeezed brick-and-mortar retailers nationally. For a single-family operation that relied on foot traffic and local loyalty, those forces represent a difficult combination.
Lammes is not the first legacy Austin business to reach this point. The city has watched a string of longtime independent retailers and restaurants close or relocate as operating costs have climbed. Each departure strips away another layer of the city’s pre-boom character, and for many longtime residents, the loss of Lammes hits harder than most.
What remains unanswered
Several significant questions are still open. The Lammes family has not issued a formal corporate statement beyond the customer letter and Schmidt’s broadcast remarks. There has been no public comment on the number of employees affected, whether severance or transition support is being provided, or what will happen to the Airport Boulevard and Round Rock properties after the stores close.
For loyal customers, the most pressing question may be whether the Lammes brand will survive in any form. It is unclear whether the recipes will be sold, licensed, or simply retired. Whether the online store will continue taking orders after the last physical location closes is also unconfirmed. The company has not publicly addressed whether its products are or will be available through any third-party retailers.
For now, anyone hoping to buy Lammes products in person should not wait. The Airport Boulevard store’s remaining inventory is moving fast, and there is no indication it will be restocked.
What five generations built
Lammes Candies was never Austin’s flashiest business. It did not rebrand for every generation or chase viral moments on social media. It made candy, sold it in modest storefronts, and let the product do the talking across 141 years of family ownership. That consistency was its identity, and for a long time, it was enough.
The closure will not reshape Austin’s economy. But it will leave a gap that no new tenant on Airport Boulevard can fill. The customers clearing out the last boxes of pralines in late April were not just stocking up on candy. They were holding on to a piece of a city that keeps slipping away, one storefront at a time.
