What do Franklin D. Roosevelt, The Simpsons, Mary Poppins and Minions have in common?
They’re all under the same roof at the PEZ Visitor Center in Orange, Connecticut, where the nostalgic candy maker houses the world’s largest collection of PEZ dispensers. Characters range from relics like Daniel Boone to epic sellers like Santa Claus, along with sports team mascots, presidents and licensed characters from Smurfs to Pokémon and every notable character in the Disney lineup.
A magnet for sale in the gift shop reads, “You’re not famous until they put your head on a PEZ dispenser.”
Colorful aisles at the PEZ Visitor Center gift shop show off different PEZ candies and dispensers.
Photos: Io Escu
However, you don’t need to be famous to be given the honor.
Beyond Saturday morning cartoon favorites and comic avatars, PEZ has also produced lineups of everyday heroes like first responders.
PEZ Museum Director Shawn Peterson, author of “PEZ: From Austrian Invention to American Icon,” and three other sweet titles is dubbed the world’s first and only PEZ historian. The memorabilia and dispensers on display are his own. It’s just part of a collection he actively began to grow starting in 1990.
His home is also a museum of sorts with PEZ displays, and there are plenty packed away in storage, he says.
“I don’t remember my very first PEZ dispenser, but I do recall getting a few as a kid in Easter baskets and Christmas stockings,” recalls Peterson.
This is a memory he shares with most visitors who stop into the museum and gift shop to explore the story of what PEZ says is the world’s most beloved interactive candy. “It’s pretty much relatable to everyone,” says Peterson.
Sugar high
Shopping for PEZ souvenirs is built into the guest experience, which begins with a humble $5 admission and a buck less if you’re 12 and under or 60-plus. There’s no cost for children three and younger. Your ticket is a souvenir lanyard, and guests receive a $2 credit toward any merchandise purchase that day.
Visits to the 4,000-square-foot museum — 25% of which is the gift shop — are self-guided and include viewing windows to the PEZ production floor and interactive videos that detail the process of creating a dispenser and how candy is made.
The entire space is anchored by the world’s largest PEZ dispenser.
Peterson built in an ever-changing game component to encourage exploration of the museum and shop. “We have some version of a scavenger hunt every month,” he says. “We put clues in the displays, and as people enter, they see an introduction to the game of the month, which might be a hunt or a close-up contest where we show a detailed photo of a small part of a dispenser they need to identify.”
One month, Peterson organized a bingo game with cards featuring dispenser characters. Guests were challenged to scour the collections to check a box on the grid and win. Successful bingo players can spin the wheel at the gift shop checkout — another way to nudge visitors into the store before they leave.
The prize: a PEZ dispenser, of course.
Guests also receive a certificate that looks like a diploma they can take home.
“People get competitive and want to be the first in their family to find all the characters,” says Peterson.
The more fun guests have while exploring the thousands of dispensers, the more likely they are to take home a T-shirt, mug, magnet, sticker and other PEZ merchandise.
There’s a PEZ dispenser for all occasions, from Valentine’s Day to Christmas and even just for fun.
“We have a wide variety of gifts and souvenirs and customers can pick from unique items you won’t find anywhere else that represent PEZ and make the experience fun,” says Peterson, noting the company partners with a local vendor for the graphic shirts highlighting vintage PEZ art.
While not necessarily intentional, the PEZ goodies and souvenirs visitors bag after their candy-coated adventure result in storytelling to friends and family. Word passes and more curious passersby and travelers stop to see what’s in store.
“They spend their store credits and more in the gift shop, and hopefully they are talking about it for a while,” says Peterson.
There are many repeat customers and about 40% of visitors are new guests. Peterson says, “People are still finding out about it and discovering it, and word of mouth is big for us.”
Dispensing sales
The PEZ Visitor Center and its shop represent the ultimate in categorizing, grouping and presenting collections.
Since PEZ started making its dispensers, there are about 3,000 different characters circulating, but Peterson explains that the count is complicated.
“The argument is in the variations of different characters that were made, and even color variants, and whether that is considered a ‘different’ character or not,” he says. “We let the collectors debate that.”
Some longtime favorites like Santa have been around since the 1950s. There might be 10 or more styles and a catalog of iterations. Does that count as one character? “There’s no right or wrong answer,” Peterson says.
Even so, with so many hand-held products on display and for sale, there needed to be a custom answer for showcasing the dispensers and organizing the equally loaded gift shop.
Custom archways in PEZ candy colors envelop glass displays, and cases are grouped by theme such as holidays, sports and Disney. A similar approach carries into the gift shop, with PEZ souvenirs that are categorized by dispenser theme, and other souvenirs such as apparel and impulse purchases like stickers.
Items are priced to appeal. According to Peterson, just because visitors are at PEZ headquarters doesn’t mean the store is going to charge a premium for the bragging right of saying the purchase happened where the candy is manufactured.
PEZ dispensers with three rolls of candy cost $2.49. “In specialty shops, you’d expect to pay double that or $40 for a shirt, and it’s not like that here,” says Peterson. “It’s affordable so people come in, visit, shop and go home with PEZ souvenirs.”
The sheer volume of PEZ dispensers in one shop is also amazing to customers.
“People are delighted with the activities, enjoy their time with us and can’t believe the broad assortment of products we offer,” says Peterson. “Typically, when you see PEZ at a retailer, they might have two or three peg hooks at the front of the store and the selection is fairly limited.”
Overall, Peterson says guests who share their surprise and wow moments with him in the gift shop have what he calls an “under-promise over-deliver reaction.”
As in, these guests thought their visit would be cool — but whoa!
He adds, “From a gift and souvenir perspective, we nail that pretty well with a wide variety of unique things you won’t find anywhere that represent PEZ and make it fun.”
