Downfall and rise
In the early 1960s, with over 368 stores across the country now filled with candy, novelty toys, and kitschy souvenirs, the franchise became larger than Stuckey could himself handle,[5][6] resulting in its sale to Pet, Inc., maker of Pet Milk.
W.S. Stuckey Sr. died in 1977, the same year that Illinois Central Industries, a Chicago conglomerate, bought Pet Milk Co.; the conglomerate began to close Stuckey's stores across the country.[7] By the end of the decade, only 75 original stores remained.
In 1984, W.S. "Billy" Stuckey, Jr., son of the founder, repurchased Stuckey's with the intention of improving its fortunes. Stuckey came up with the idea of Stuckey's Express, a store-within-a-store concept that resulted in over 165 licensed stores in 17 states.[8]
The business' growth increased following the intervention of W.S. Stuckey Sr. s granddaughter, Ethel "Stephanie" Stuckey who took her life's savings, bought the company from her father and became its CEO in November 2019.[9]
In August 2020, Stuckey's acquired Front Porch Pecans, a pecan snack company that sells to domestic and foreign markets, including grocery channels in the Southeast U.S.[10] With this merger, Stuckey's gained management support and co-owner, R.G. Lamar, who was named as new President to run Stuckey's with Stephanie.
In January 2021, Stephanie and R.G. acquired Atwell Pecans, The Orchards Gourmet, and Thames corporations to add candy making, pecan processing, and fundraising businesses to the company's portfolio.[11] In the same year, Ted Wright invested in the company becoming the third co-owner. Ted is also the CEO of word-of-mouth marketing and growth strategy company Fizz, and focuses on the marketing of Stuckey's.[12]
Today, Stuckey's has 65 licensed locations, a distribution center based in Eastman, a pecan and candy plant to make their own Stuckey's products, an active online business, and some 200 retailers that sell Stuckey's pecan snacks and candies in over 5,000 outlets.
