About Us

The original Cousin's Candy Shop in Virginia City, Montana was founded in 1970. Judy bought it from the retiring owners in 1987. Judy, a native Californian, had taken an early retirement after working for an airline for 20 years and needed a second career. She'd always had the dream of being in business for herself, and while visiting a friend in Montana discovered the candy shop was for sale. The rest is history.

After seeing firsthand how all the world loves candy, she decided a second location would be another dream come true. After some thought, she began to realize that, Montana, with it's beautiful mountains and Big Sky, actually had few locations with enough population to support a candy shop. Judy began considering California, partly because she was from there, and also, with her retirement agreement with the airlines, knew she could easily commute between the two locations. After researching various locations, in 1999 she finally settled on Old Town San Diego State Historic Park.

Now that Judy's kids are grown and gone, she can be even more mobile. She now spends summers in Montana and winters in San Diego. She truly believes she has the best of both worlds.