After 141 years in business, iconic Austin candy maker Lammes Candies is closing its doors, marking the end of one of the city’s oldest family-run businesses and a longtime source of pralines, Longhorns, and holiday traditions for generations of Texans.

Owners cited “changing market conditions and the long-term sustainability of our operations” as the reason behind the decision, according to a letter posted at the Round Rock store, which closed April 24. The notice said the flagship Airport Boulevard store, 5330 Airport Blvd., will remain open “a bit longer so that everyone has the opportunity to purchase their favorite Lammes Candies treat” before the business shuts down for good.

Although the brand is most closely associated with Austin, where it maintained its production facilities and retail stores, the candies are widely available at spots like Spec's, Walmart, and Central Market throughout San Antonio.

Lammes traces its roots to 1878, when William Wirt Lamme arrived in Austin from St. Louis and opened the Red Front Candy Factory at 721 Congress Ave. That founding date had to be revised because Lamme lost that original business in a poker game. Either date, Lammes is still the city's longest operating family-owned business.

“He lost the business in a poker game in the spring of 1885, so his son came down from Ohio, paid the gambling debt, regained the business, and it has been family-owned and operated since 1885 right here in Austin, Texas,” co-owner Bryan Teich said in a company video posted on YouTube in 2015.

The iconic lamb sign outside Lammes Candies’ Airport Boulevard flagship has become one of Austin’s most recognizable vintage storefront markers.Lammes Candies/Instagram

The business was later renamed Lammes Candies and moved to 919 Congress Ave., eventually expanding to Austin locations in Twin Oaks, on The Drag at 2262 Guadalupe St., and at Delwood Shopping Center. Its current flagship store at 5330 Airport Blvd. opened in December 1956, with later suburban shops at Barton Creek Square Mall, Anderson Lane, Lakeline, and Round Rock.

The company became known for its Texas Chewie Pecan Pralines, introduced in 1892 using pecans gathered from trees along the Colorado River, along with its famous Longhorns — caramel, pecan, and chocolate candies similar to turtles. It's also the go-to stop for chocolate-covered strawberries for Valentine's Day.

Lammes has said it introduced the first soda fountain in the Southwest and Austin’s first neon sign with its lamb logo, according to the company video. Austin still has a handful of long-running legacy businesses, from Scholz Garten, founded in 1866, to East Austin’s Green & White Grocery (opened in the 1930s) and family-run institutions like Dirty Martin's Place, which opened in 1926.

For many Austinites, Lammes was tied to family rituals as much as candy. On an Easter Facebook post about Austin Memories, customers reminisced about Christmas gift boxes, chocolate-covered strawberries, black licorice eggs, sour cherry drops, and the store’s famous chewy pralines.

Former employees remembered Valentine’s Day strawberry rushes and first jobs behind the counter. One commenter wrote, “You can’t buy the smell online. I suggest you walk in the door.”

That deep employee loyalty also became part of the company’s identity. In the same company video, owners said much of the management staff had worked there for 20 to 35 years and noted one employee had been with the company for 76 years.

That employee was Mildred Hamilton Walston, an Austin native who began working at Lammes in 1941 and stayed for more than 75 years. In her 2019 obituary, her family said she considered Lammes “a second family.”