and with over 368 stores across the country now filled with candy, novelty toys, and kitschy souvenirs, the franchise seemed to become something bigger than one man alone could handle. As a result, Stuckey sold his franchise to Pet, Inc., maker of Pet Milk. W.S. Stuckey Sr. died in 1977, the same year that Illinois Central Industries, a Chicago conglomerate, bought Pet Milk Co., and they began to close Stuckey’s stores across the country. By the end of the decade, only 75 original Stuckey’s stores remained. Nevertheless, in 1984, W.S. “Billy” Stuckey, Jr., son of the founder and a five-term Congressman from the 8th District of Georgia, repurchased Stuckey’s and began to turn the company around. Billy had a new idea for the company – Stuckey’s Express, a store-within-a-store concept that resulted in over 165 licensed Stuckey’s Express stores in 17 states. He also sold the Eastman candy making plant to Standard Candy Company in Nashville, Tennessee who shuttered it during the 2009 recession. Still, Stuckey’s world-famous pecan log rolls and other pecan candies would continue to be made by outside vendors. Stuckey’s “comeback” really began taking off, however, after W.S. Stuckey Sr.’s granddaughter, Ethel “Stephanie” Stuckey, a former Georgia State Representative herself, took her life’s savings, bought the company and became its CEO in November 2019. Back in family hands once again, in August 2020, Stuckey’s acquired Front Porch Pecans, a pecan snack company that sells to domestic and foreign markets, including grocery channels in the Southeast U.S. With this merger, Stuckey’s gained management support with R.G. Lamar as new President to run Stuckey’s with Stephanie, as well as a new product line to market to more health-conscious consumers. In January 2021, Stephanie and R.G. acquired Atwell Pecans, The Orchards Gourmet, and Thames corporations to add candy making, pecan processing, and fundraising businesses to the company’s portfolio. Today, Stuckey’s has 65 licensed locations, a distribution center based in Eastman, a pecan and candy plant to make their own Stuckey’s products, an active online business, and some 200 retailers that sell Stuckey’s pecan snacks and candies. With fresh leadership, new acquisitions, and increased market share for Georgia’s homegrown nut, the pecan, Stuckey’s is on the rebound. Stuckey hopes to eventually own a handful of Stuckey’s interstate stores to revive the original premise behind the company as a “roadside oasis” while continuing to build up the candy making side of the