Albanese Candy Factory

As everyone else has said, the gummy bears are so good! I got an assortment of their candies, my favorites were the white chocolate pretzels, the salted chocolate candies & gummy bears. Can’t wait to get more!

Yummy gummies!!! I bought then visually defective bag for about $ 5. It was a sweet treat for my ride to Indy. They sell fortune cookies too!

I rated it 5 stars because their gummy bears are the best!.. And, I’m not really a candy person…
Family and I will keep coming back…
It’s only 1+ hour away from where I live… Wife & Kids (17 & 20) get to relax/​sleep in the car during the drive…
Enjoy!..

Great place to buy bulk basic candy.
They sell a wide variety of gummies, jelly beans, hard candies and novelty candies. They also have some chocolates to choose from but I wasn’t a huge fan of them.

Every time we are in the area, we stop. Sometimes, I make a special trip to Merrillville IN to load up. This location has the best gummi’s and chocolate that money can buy. It is a GREAT VALUE. When you walk in, there are usually 10lb bags of gummis for $ 6. Yes, I SAID $ 6! Give yourself a full hour to digest the entire place. There is a huge chocolate fountain. gifts, throwback candy, self factory tours, and samples. Just ask if you want to taste something before you buy it. Gummis are usually $ 2.99 per lb. Can be more, depending on the type of candy. They had these giant gummi snakes, 99 cents. Perfect for my grandson. They are getting ready for Valentines Day now. I loaded up on the usual. Hope you get to visit soon.

I have to admit that I discovered Albanese Candy Factory by total surprise, seriously if it wasn’t for the signs along the highway I wouldn’t have known that it was less than 2 miles down the road from my hotel. I stopped in early one morning shortly after they opened and before heading back home and I was in total shock, it certainly had a Willy Wonka vibe to it.
Once inside you will quickly discover a huge chocolate fountain along with wide variety of almost any type of candy you can think of. Anything from gummy bears to chocolates, they even had chocolate covered gummy bears! There was also an entire selection of rejects, which were candy which were slightly with their looks but still just as delicious, at a reduced price. Prices were extremely fair and the quality was top notch, seriously some of the best gummy bears I have had, full of flavor!
Much to my surprise this isn’t some major candy corporation, it’s a family business that has grown over the years, you can even find some of their treats in stores across the country. Overall Albanese Candy Factory is a must stop when visiting the area, make the stop and treat yourself.

Fun stop on the way from Chicago. Prices are good since it it an outlet at their factory. Gummies are pretty good. Lots of flavors. It was packed near Christmas.

I need to stay away.
I see the billboards on the highway, gummy candy outlet? Yeah, let’s do this. I was driving home from Indianapolis alone, so there was no one in the car to inconvenience with this little side trip. I figured I’d be the lame guy at the candy store… alone…being judged by employees. Nope.
The place was a mob scene. Crazy lines (which could have used a little more crowd control — several people stood in line for the cashier when they thought they were standing in line for candy) and lots of folks stocking up for the holidays.
You can get about anything you want here — not just normal stuff, but if you wanted all your gummy bears in a single flavor, that’s a thing. If you want 5lb bags, that’s a thing too. And it’s really good stuff. Like… I’m not sure, but it might be better than German Haribo… I definitely like some of the Albanese flavors better, plus there are more of them. And their almond butter crunch toffee is awesome, with plenty of salt on the crushed almonds, something lots of toffee like this leaves out. I think prices are pretty reasonable too. $ 3/​lb for gummies is certainly cheaper than grocery store prices. Not that I need more reason to binge…
So, yeah, I definitely will be back. But… next time I’m alone driving home, I can’t have my coworkers judging me.

Huge selection of gummy candy the black cherry bears are my fav. The dark chocolate raisins are amazing!

A real life Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory complete with a flowing chocolate fountain. This place is a must stop any time you are traveling from Indianapolis to Chicago!

A nice place to get candy, pictures gave me expectations of a bigger place but it was still ok. I thought it would be a tour or something similar to Hershey park but it wasn’t. There were about 4 or 5 windows to watch the workers make candy that’s it. I guess I came at the wrong time though because I only saw people walking around.

The place evokes a bit of a willy Wonka vibe, what with their 15ft chocolate fountain and the sense of barely controlled chaos. The place is always pacjed, and I mean apparently ALWAYS. The staff seem to be exclusively cute, friendly teenage girls who always keep their cool despite the throngs of customers. There is no official ‘line’ at the candy counters; it’s like trying to get a beer at a crowded bar, you have to get noticed and people will always cut in front of you if you aren’t, well, pushy. Fortunately I’m tall so they always notice me.
Onto the candy. Their gummy bears are probably the best in the world. I’ve been to plenty of other countries and I consider myself a bit of an expert on the topic. They are very sweet though (and so much flavor!) so you will have a harder time stuffing your face with them despite the desperate craving to do so.
They have every candy variety you can think of, and plenty you haven’t seen in ages (pixie sticks! Big League Chew!), but skip the prepackaged stuff and get the in-​house candy by the pound, you won’t be disappointed.
Onto the chocolate. I love, love their peanut butter meltaways, best I’ve ever had; chocolate covered carmels, meh, SB Chocolate Café makes better, but I still will buy them. Most of it is pretty good, but I have pretty simple tastes so some of the more unique stuff, I haven’t had. They have a counter where they seem to do custom chocolate orders, I bet they get a fair amount of local wedding related business.
If you find yourself in Valparaiso, or passing through on US 30, do yourself a favor and stop in. You even can see into the factory! I believe they have tours, but only for large prearranged groups.

OMG the absolute best sugar free chocaltes around. They have this Pixie type concoction, sugar free, I stand it up against a Fannie May Pixie (with sugar) it is so good.
Sugar free gummis’ so good, OMG.
They do mail order, and have a factory store near Merriville IN.
They will let you try EVERYTHING for free, bring the kids, and have a blast.

their own gummy bears at $ 3 per pound. they are softer than haribo and many others.
many in house candies to try and buy (free samples!) as well as non-​Albanese sweets
can’t see much of their factory — don’t come expecting a tour or anything cool to see

How have I not reviewed this gem? A great little stop on our way from IL south. Family friendly and delicious assortments of many candies… the gummies are my favorite. My favorite quote of our most recent stop was the little boy who walked in and said «Mom!!! Look!!! The chocolate is coming out of the ceiling!!!»
Stop in to see what he was so amazed by! You won’t regret it ;)

[Pulls into the parking lot & starts singing the Willy Wonka theme song… Every. Time.]
I’m going to get this out of the way first… The Albanese Candy Factory get –1 Star from me simply because they have ONE PUBLIC BATHROOM (as in 1 single space for everyone to use). Anywhere that has multiple interstate billboards urging people to stop needs more than 1 bathroom. That’s common sense. Please build more restrooms! In my heart, it is still a 5-​star establishment.
I LOVE the Albanese Candy factory. We go up to Chicago pretty frequently, and we can’t resist stopping at Albanese on the way. Since there’s a large volume of reviews already spelling the many virtues of this place, I’m just going to list my «Can’t Miss» favorites.
1) Every time we get there, I go squealing like a little kid to the back of the store, to see if anything is being made in the factory below. I could sit there & watch gummies flying off of the conveyer belt All. Day. Long. We lucked out this past weekend during our visit, and the factory was active.
2) The gummy bears. Their slogan is not a lie… their gummies are The Best. My favorites?– the pink grapefruit & concord grape bears. I get a bag every time we go.
3) The fruit slices. I love the old fashioned soft gummy fruit slices that are coated in sugar. My favorites? grape & blue raspberry.
4) Don’t forget to give their chocolates a try! My favorites?– the Dark Chocolate covered Orange Jelly’s & the Dark Chocolate Gran Marnier Pecans.
5) By the entrance they sell big bags of «oops» gummies that are super cheap. Frequently there are worm & bear varieties, plus some other options once in awhile. Sometimes these are deformed gummies, sometimes they are gummies that are too sticky or things like that. Allegedly, these packages are the best deal for doing large quantities of «drunken gummies» for parties… or so I’ve been told. :-)

Pretty neat little place. My friend swears by the chocolate covered pretzel bars, so we had to stop. I got gummy bears and milk chocolate covered Oreos. The Oreos are very good. Haven’t tried the gummy bears. They also have chocolate covered gummies, nuts, carmels, graham crackers. They have several types of gummy bears and chewy fruit candies. They have cards and gifts as well. Not a bad stop on our road trip.
My friend states it can be crowded at peak times. We had friendly service and got back on the road!

This was one of my oldest Unilocal bookmarks, and I chose Valentine’s Day finally to check it out with my equally sweet-​toothed wife. Apparently so did several thousand other enthusiasts. Actually, I have no way of knowing what kind of traffic you’d find there on a typical Saturday, but on that afternoon it was BUSY.
So two logistical issues were exposed by this factor. First, the little video tour of the production facility cannot be heard over the noise in the room. Second, while jostling among so many other customers it is difficult to get around to see all the cases of candy, about half of which are situated at waist level. It would be better to arrange them all in tiers, as well as to post a list of all wares somewhere. I hate to think that I might have missed something! Also, though this wasn’t a problem, it could have been: there is no line system, but more like the crush at a crowded bar, where you hope that the «bartenders» can keep better track of who is rightfully next than your fellow patrons can, but in reality aggression and rudeness tend to be unfairly rewarded.
Thankfully most people were well behaved, presumably because this is a candy factory – one of the happiest places on earth! And the candy is excellent, especially their signature gummy bears. I never could have imagined gummy bears so wonderfully vibrant. When you pop in, say, an orange, a pineapple, and a mango all together, it is like the Second Coming of Carmen Miranda right there in your mouth. Peach, grape, watermelon, whatever – they are all good!
The dark chocolate items are nice, too. Silky.
They carry many other non-​house candies, both packaged and in bulk. In particular, I noticed forty-​two individual flavors of Jelly Bellys and nine mixes.
I had hoped for more of a tour than the series of three brief, cheesy videos, but as a candy store this place rocks. The prices are cheap by Chicago standards, and it’s a reasonable distance away that I will not be tempted to visit too often… but we will definitely be back.

Yes! Yes! Yes! Friendly faces, quick service and CANDY! What is not to love about this place? And, their prices are super reasonable! I was able to try different things before making my selections. We went after Thanksgiving when they don’t have tours anymore bc Santa is there so the windows are closed. The woman who informed us apologized and was very nice about it. Totally ok with me bc that meant more time for candy eating!
I’m a candy lover and walked away with lots of small bags of many different things. It was perfect for me bc I didn’t have to make a decision about any one type and could choose many of them. The place was busy on a Sunday afternoon but that is to be expected. I’m so happy we were able to stop here as our one adventure on our long drive. Best decision ever!

Gummy enthusiasts need not look any further than Albanese Candy Factory. The six-​flavor gummy bear assortment — wild cherry, strawberry, orange, lemon, green apple and pineapple — is the best for traditionalists. But if you’re looking for variety (or if you’re like me and want lime gummies in lieu of green apple), try the 12-​flavor assortment, which includes everything in the six flavor pack plus pink grapefruit, mango, lime, blue raspberry, watermelon and grape. You can also purchase single flavors in bulk.
While Albanese specializes in gummies, they also offer a range of chocolate candies. The double-​dipped peanuts are not to be missed. With free samples and reasonable prices, not to mention the freshest gummies and candy, it’s impossible not to stock up.