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Last Updated:
Apr 22nd, 2008 - 11:49:54 |
Scotty Hagen
Making The World Taste Good
It’s fitting that there's a bowl of candy sitting in front of me. I don’t know what else you'd expect inside the house of online candy store owner and Grande Nationals bass player Scotty Hagen. After all, the formation of his company, Bellyache Candy Shoppe, was founded because of his need to get into a national candy expo.
Hi, his name is Scotty, and he’s addicted to vintage sugary treats.
Since 2004, Hagen and his business partner, Michelle Moore, have become known for their eclectic stock of rare candy. “We really got things going in 2004, before that it was just kind of bar talk,” Hagen says with a laugh. “We really wanted to get this going and we had drawings of ideas for a store and lists of what candies we wanted to stock.”
While the duo’s initial intentions were for a more concrete candy shop in Ferndale, they have honed their business skills via the Internet. To much national avail via the Web, the shop has become a smashing success. “[Work is constant] pretty much every day,” Scotty says of the Bellyache workload. “We aren’t just getting local orders either, there are tons of orders from all over the country. We just had a big one from Maine come in.”
With the excitement of many new physical candy stores opening up around the Detroit area in the past few years, one might get excited that nostalgia was trying to come back to The D. Unfortunately, many of the shops have been plagued by high rent costs and the ease at which candy can be disregarded as a luxury in these tough times. “I think it’s, unfortunately, something people would give up really easily,” Hagen says. “Let's see, do I pay $3.50 for gas or buy giant Sweet Tarts? That’s one of the many reasons we choose to just keep the store as a Web site.”
In addition to just selling candy, Bellyache has now also become an online record shop and label, as well. The company has released several compilations featuring Detroit bands including The Sweet Sounds of Detroit Vol. 1 and Ghouls Delight, and is looking to expand by putting out collectible vinyl. “From after Valentine's Day up until Halloween, I spend time on music stuff because it’s not a really good time for mail-ordering candy,” Hagen says. “It’s warmer out and you have to spend more for shipping. So it’s a good time to work on the musical side of what we're doing.” The label’s first release, the Gore Gore Girls' European Tour single, debuted in March to rave reviews and Scotty also has plans for releases with The Muggs, The Go and The Hentchmen in the works. The label also won the “Local Label of the Year” award from Riff 2 earlier this year and seeks to build on their past successes.
As for Scotty’s own musical aspirations, his band The Grande Nationals will be working on a new record when the guitarist, Tony Vegas, returns home from his current Hi-Fi Handgrenades tour. “We’ve had some drummer troubles, but now we have Adam from The Brave Rifles playing with us,” Hagen says. “When Tony gets back we're going to record. We have about seven new songs and we're going to release something whether it's digital or vinyl and see what shows we will do from there.” Sounds sweet. | RDW
More info: bellyachecandyshoppe.com
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