For more than 130 years, there has been no sweeter word in Detroit
than Sanders.
Sanders was more than just an ice-cream and candy shop - a Detroit icon,
it served a fountain of memories for generations. The venerable
confectioner was once as much a part of Detroit's streetscape as the Big
Three, Hudson's, and Coney Islands, where customers stood two and three
deep behind lunch counters for tuna or egg salad sandwiches, devil's
food buttercream bumpy cake, hot fudge sundaes, and Sanders' signature
dessert - hot fudge cream puffs. As Detroit boomed, so did Sanders, and
at its peak, the company boasted more than 50 stores, with its products
available in as many as 200 supermarkets. The Motor City nearly lost
Sanders in the mid-1980s, but its dessert shops have begun to resurface,
thanks to another Detroit institution, Morley Brands LLC, which bought
the Sanders brand in 2002. Even after more than a century has passed
when Fred Sanders opened his first shop in Chicago, Sanders
Confectionery has opportunity to become a national player in desserts
and candy.