SIOUX CITY, Iowa (KCAU) – Palmer Candy is a Sioux City staple recognized nationally for its sweet treat. This year, the candy shop is celebrating 100 years since the creation of its most popular candy bar.

The Palmer Candy Company started all the way back in 1878 as a fruit company that also sold dry goods. Palmer didn’t sell candy until the year 1900, and it would be 23 years later when Palmer Candy debuted the Bing Bar.

“It was first launched in four flavors, it was in maple, pineapple, vanilla, and then of course the cherry. And certainly over the next few years, cherry became the big seller. That’s what really we all know today and has stayed the test of time,” President and CEO of Palmer Candy Company Marty Palmer said.

The Palmer Candy Company is best known in the United States for its Bing candy bar line.

“It’s been in a variety of different sizes. There’s the Single Bing, and there’s the Twin Bing, then there’s the King Bing which is three humps which makes it easier to share. Through the years it has not changed in our taste in our formulation. When you talk to somebody that is far older than we are, they’ll tell you oh my gosh, you’ve done the right thing because you kept the taste exactly the same,” Palmer said.

Palmer’s Old Tyme Candy Shoppe in Sioux City continues to attract visitors looking for something sweet.

“Well I like the Twin Bings but I like the peanut clusters. For one thing, the candy is twice as good and the price is only half of what you have to pay when you go to the box store or grocery store,” shopper Roger Feuerbacher said.

“You have to go with the classic, the original, but the new flavors they’ve added, I think the smores is a good one, but the cherry is the best,” shopper Jesse Scott said.

But the popularity that came with the Bing back in the 1920s also stretched out in the Midwest.

“The Bing was the first product that really got outside this immediate region and we’re now very very popular, the business is very very popular in seven to ten states in this upper Midwest area, and it really provided the foundation for Palmer candy to continue to grow through the 20’s and the 30’s and the 40’s,” Palmer said.

What started as a Midwest dry goods company is now a successful candy business through two centuries.

“At Palmer candy, you can get three to four hundred different types of candy. The ones that we make, we probably make 120 different types,” Palmer said.

Palmer Candy is hosting a week-long celebration of the Bing Candy Bar starting November 6 and they will debut a brand new birthday cake Bing flavor.