Products in this story are independently selected and featured editorially. If you make a purchase using these links we may earn commission. Sweethearts Candy Hearts Are Not Available This Valentine's Day for the First Time in 153 Years If you’ve been looking forward to exchanging the classic candy conversation hearts with your loved one this Valentine’s Day, you’re going to have to wait another year. For the first time since they made their debut in 1866, the New England Confectionery Company (Necco) will not be selling Sweethearts Conversation Hearts. Get push notifications with news, features and more. Last July, Necco closed its doors and the SweetHearts brand was sold to Spangler Candy Company, according to CandyStore.com. Since it typically took Necco 11 months to produce 8 billion candy hearts, there was not enough lead time for the new company to create the hearts and sell for this season. On the bright side, Spangler’s CEO says the hearts will be available again in 2020, already giving us something to look forward to next year. RELATED: Food for Bacon Lovers: Bacon Wrapped Chicken But there are still plenty of ways to share your love with a significant other or Galentine this year. Sour Patch Kids debuted their own conversation hearts this year, and Brach’s version is still available in stores and online.<doc-sep>NEW A vastly improved search engine helps you find the latest on companies, business leaders, and news more easily.<doc-sep>Seasonal & Holidays Sweetheart Conversation Candies Missing On Valentine's Day 2019 Sweetheart candies are missing this year, and Valentine's Day celebrants will have to find some other way to say "love you" and "be mine." Reply It may be difficult for some to find the tragedy in this story, but the makers of the premiere heart-shaped "conversation" candies won't be delivering the sugary Valentines Day messages in 2019, which means people will have to find some other way to say "be mine," "miss you," or "marry me." May we suggest you pour out your affection in person, with feeling? And, the makers of Sweethearts suggest, if you happened to score Valentine's Day boxes of the candies this year, you should throw them out because they're leftover love and candy like this doesn't age well. (And, lovers, if you really care, can't you do better?) Sales of the candies are down an estimated 80 percent, which depending on how you look at this development, is worthy of a sad-faced emoticon — an appropriate shorthand for your feelings given that Sweethearts are kind of a forerunner of electronic emoticons — or a sign that society isn't quite as hopeless as you thought. Patch delivers Across America. Click here for our free morning national newsletter. If it's the latter, don't get too smug. This is basic supply-and-demand economics, and Sweethearts will be back in 2020. The New England Confectionery Company, or Necco, annually pressed out about 8 million Sweethearts, as well as similar brand known as Love Hearts sold in the U.K. before its bankruptcy last year. Spangler Candy Company acquired the rights to the candy last September, but with only five months before Valentine's Day, it didn't have the wherewithal to meet what has been a 19 million-pound annual demand for the sentimental candies. It took Necco 11 months to produce 8 billion conversation hearts every year, which are sold in the six weeks before Valentine's Day. To get to that number, Necco turned out 100,000 pounds of Sweethearts a day. The plant where they were made closed in July 2018, and while it wasn't as harsh as, for example, being handed a heart-shaped candy with "we're breaking up" stamped into the face, workers were told not to report to work the next day When Necco was in bankruptcy talks, panicked Sweethearts aficionados — let that sink in — bought up all the candies they could, sending sales soaring by 50 percent and wiping up most of the remaining stock. However, those determined to hand out Sweethearts this Valentine's Day can still find them if they're willing to shell out some coin. A 36-count box of Sweethearts Conversation Hearts costs $32.95 on Amazon — but remember, they're expired lots. All this vexing /not vexing news comes via CandyStore.com, which sells inexpensive candies in a variety of flavors and textures in bulk quantities for holidays and special occasions. Granted, CandyStore never billed itself as a fine chocolatier or confectionery — or even on par with your local grocery store, where you can pick up some decent chocolate-dipped strawberries — but the fact that SweetHearts have reigned as the Valentine's Day candy royalty has to say something about the other entries in the most popular candy pool. There are some imitations out there, CandyStore.com says, but Sweethearts, which have been part of Valentine's Day traditions for more than 100 years.<doc-sep>
Love is dead. Well, sort of. Sweethearts – those beloved conversation candy hearts – won’t be available for purchase this Valentine’s Day because Necco, the company that manufactured the sweet treats, abruptly went out of business in July 2018. The candy producer, which also manufactured the classic Necco Wafers, Mary Jane, Thin Mints, Clark Bars and the Sky Bar, was originally purchased by Round Hill Investments. However, that company later sold the Necco wafer brand and Sweethearts to Spangler Candy Company around September. Given the timing of the sale, Spangler says it wasn’t able to produce enough Sweethearts in time for Valentine’s Day 2019. In a press release on the brand’s official website, Spangler chairman and CEO Kirk Vashaw said, “We look forward to announcing the Sweethearts relaunch for the 2020 Valentine season.” He later acknowledged the candy’s beloved status, adding, “Many people have memories of sorting through their box of Sweethearts to find just the right message to share.” According to BuzzFeed, it took the folks at Necco 11 months to produce eight billion Sweethearts, so Spangler isn’t really at fault here. And while that number may sound high for a candy that wasn’t exactly lauded for its exceptional taste, the demands for all those little pastel hearts was definitely there. In fact, Candystore.com reported conversation hearts were the most popular Valentine’s Day confection in 2018. Seeing as how this year marks the first time in 153 years that Sweethearts won’t be on store shelves, many consumers are, dare we say it, heartbroken. “It’s a travesty… no Conversation Hearts for Valentine’s Day,” wrote one disappointed Twitter user. Added another: “NOOOOO! no conversation hearts this year. How am I supposed to tell you how I feel?” Still, not everyone is sad to see the Valentine’s Day staple go. As one naysayer put it: “Take them all. Conversation hearts taste like cardboard.” If you’re desperate for a Sweetheart fix as the holiday approaches, you could always head to Amazon, where 36 boxes of the candies can be yours for just under $33!