Holland’s Mercantile

Still here 30 years later?

Sell T-Shirts please

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

I used to come here all the time when I was in high school and ever since I moved away whenever we are here for a visit I always stop here and bring my kids! The popcorn is the best! The ice cream is great and there are so many candy choices!!

The blonde gentleman was extremely nice to me and my kids. I love his energy

Nice place to visit and buy bulk candy.

Great variety! Candles are phenomenal!

Review Date: September 17th, 2014Sugar. Spice. Everything nice.Like in a lot of smaller towns, you’ll usually have or find a business that deals in candy. Sugary confections. Sweet treats. Candy from yesteryears. Soda (pop) in more varieties than you care for it to come in. Things you think you’d never see again and things you fall in love with. Holland’s Mercantile fills that role for Washington, IL.My friend Matt and I decided to spend an afternoon exploring the Washington Square to see what the town and it’s folk offered. The words on the front of the store’s glass got me excited at the possibilities held inside. As we opened the door and headed in, the excitement increased tenfold.It was like being a kid in a candy store. Except that we are adults… in a candy store. Upon entering, I first noticed the long row of candy in the glass containers where you can scoop out as much as you want. Lining the walls were a million different candy from a million different times and cultures. I saw things I hadn’t seen in years. They had stuff I didn’t think existed in time where color TV is the norm.On top of the candy, they also had a display case full of baked goods. Whether these are made in-house or from a local bakery, I am not sure. Either way, the stuff looked fantastic behind the glass. Turtles. Truffles. Caramel Bars. It all looked so good that I think my blood sugar level elevated just looking at the offerings.This store has more than just candy, baked goodies, and sweets from everyone’s childhood. They also had the novelty toys from the same time period the candy/sweets come from. There were novelty toys that tied in to current day trends but they also had toys that kids from our time would enjoy just as much as kids from the time from which they came. I also think there was a back room that was full of a combination of everything the store offered.On this day, I let my inner child run wild and I picked up a small sack full of candy. I didn’t want to get too much because I don’t have the best self-control when it comes to my sweet tooth. Next door is another Holland’s store that offers up popcorn in many different flavors and even more soda to pick from.This store did remind me of the candy store from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, minus the Candy Man tossing candy to and fro. Though that would’ve been quite the sight to see. The store just has this feeling of being a great place to get your sweet tooth fix while reliving items from your childhood and also your parent’s childhood.I will end this with a warning. If you have kids and bring them here… expect to drop a lot of money on sweets and toys. It’s easy to spend a small fortune in a place like this. Also, don’t let your kids see Holland’s Caramelcorn next door. They might get loaded up on sugar and then get popcorn cheese everywhere.

Literally everything is always stale, theh charge WAY too much for not even good candy. Everytime ive gone there everything has been horrible and stale, and the old lady there is always rude and cranky

Excellent popcorn and a great selection of candy!

A great place to get candu

The dude with the brown hair was good. Also the dude with the flow was good too

Really good chicago mix and butter popcorn ?

There was a young man with longer hair that helped me out and his respect and kindness was all the energy in the room. His co worker was an older lady that rang me up and can I say these were the two nicest people in a store, can’t wait to come back!!

I have taken my daughter and her friends many times over the years to Holland’s . We have always had enjoyed going . Today I tried to take my grandson during his visit. We arrived before 4:00 to find it was closed. The web site says it is open till 5:00. There wasn’t any hours of operation posted on the building . I called the store because I could see employees inside. A young woman answered and I inquired about the business hours she said they closed at four . I explained that the web site says the hours are 10:00-5:00. She hung up on me!!! I called back and a male person answered this time I explained we drove from El Paso and that they might want to change the hours listed on the web site. He flatly said “yeah” and he hung up. I won’t be back. The customer service was inexcusable. The products they are selling are available elsewhere but it’s they customer service it what brings people back. I will not be back. It is a shame that that is the attitude that customers can expect from this place. I try to shop local as often as I can especially during this time when small businesses are struggling. But I won’t be back. If there was an option for negative stars to rate this I would have.

We enjoyed the employees and great products.

Fantastic place my child loves it, they have changed things up since covid-19 but seems to be for the better.