A new generation takes over at Schimpff's Confectionery
As the warm candy putty inched toward the edge of the marble table, young Steve Shepherd panicked.
“It’s falling!” he yelled to Sonny Schimpff, his first cousin once removed, who was hard of hearing.
“It’s falling!” he repeated, even louder, when Sonny asked him to speak up.
But Sonny knew exactly what was happening. The owner of Schimpff’s Confectionery had purposefully let the candy creep closer to the table's cliff to prank Shepherd, who wasn’t yet 10 and helping out at the family shop on a day off from school.
“I was worried about candy when I was really young,” Shepherd, now 57, said on a recent Friday.
Fast forward a few decades, and Shepherd and his wife, Beth, are set to become the next owners of the storied Schimpff’s Confectionery in downtown Jeffersonville. Warren and Jill Schimpff, also first cousins once removed to Shepherd, are stepping back from the Spring Street institution after more than 30 years at the helm.
Warren Schimpff and Steve Shepherd pour out the liquid form of the famous red hots at Schimpff’s in Jeffersonville. After more than three decades leading one of the area's oldest candy shops, the owners of Schimppff's Confectionery—Warren and Jill Schimpff—are planning to retire. Steve Shepherd, affectionately known as "Cousin Steve," and his wife Beth will take over the business, marking the fifth generation of ownership for the Jeffersonville sweet shop. Tuesday, November 25, 2025
In November, they passed the torch to Steve Shepherd — literally. At a celebration marking the transition, Warren Schimpff handed him a ceremonial torch crafted from a wooden candy-stirring paddle and topped with a can of cinnamon red hots, the shop's signature treat, officially ushering in the fifth generation of family ownership, a rarity in the era of corporatization.
Warren Schimpff is emphatic that he is not retiring. He prefers to call it slowing down.
Schimpff already retired once. In 2000, he left his job as an environmental chemist for a California water company and moved to Jeffersonville to live above the candy shop.
By then, he and Jill had owned Schimpff’s for about a decade, taking over after Warren’s cousin, Sonny, and his aunt, Catherine Schimpff, died in 1988 and 1989, respectively.
Schimpff’s in Jeffersonville. After more than three decades leading one of the area's oldest candy shops, the owners of Schimppff's Confectionery—Warren and Jill Schimpff—are planning to retire. Steve Shepherd, affectionately known as "Cousin Steve," and his wife Beth will take over the business, marking the fifth generation of ownership for the Jeffersonville sweet shop. Tuesday, November 25, 2025
Under their leadership, the business grew into much more than a candy store. Visitors can watch hard candy being made at a demonstration area. They can order lunch and explore a candy museum, where Warren Schimpff displays his extensive collection of American confectionery memorabilia.
The additions helped turn Schimpff’s into a tourist destination and continued the shop’s tradition as a community gathering place, a tradition that runs deep: In the 1930s, locals called the shop’s payphone for high school basketball scores, which the family posted in the front window.
Their hard work has paid off. Earlier this year, Schimpff’s was named the No. 1 candy store in the country by USA Today readers.
Much of the operation will stay the same moving forward. Staff will keep wearing old-fashioned soda-jerk hats and making customer favorites. In addition to cinnamon red hots, the shop is known for Modjeskas — marshmallows dipped in caramel — and a wide variety of stick candies. A newer flavor, blue raspberry, has quickly become popular with kids.
Shepherd said he knew as a high schooler that he wanted to run the family business someday. While studying engineering at Indiana-based Trine University, he tried to absorb everything he could with Schimpff’s in mind.
“I had known where I worked, that whatever I was learning, I was going to take from that job and bring it back here eventually,” he said. “I always told everybody my last stop was going to be here.”
