CORONAVIRUS HITS HALLOWEEN CANDY SALES --- AND HERSHEY

With Halloween a few days away, coronavirus is having an effect on candy maker Hershey, notes Grumpy Editor.

Normally, days leading to Halloween produce one tenth of Hershey’s $8 billion in annual sales.

 

But coronavirus this year is putting a damper on candy sales, smacking trick or treating activity.  Los Angeles health officials, for example, advise against trick or treating because of coronavirus  concerns. 

 

U.S. candy sales during last year’s Halloween season reached $4.6 billion, making it the biggest period for candy sales, notes the National Confectioners Association. 

 

Since the pandemic hit  in March, a Wall Street Journal story points out "Hershey’s sales have been tempered by social distancing restrictions that lead to fewer parties, vacations and shopping trips, especially to convenience stores where a lot of candy is purchased.”

 

Hershey says trick or treating normally makes up about half of its Halloween candy sales.

 

The National Confectioners Association sees two-thirds of Americans this year planning on trick-or-treating with appropriate safety measures.

 

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE...

 

SANTA WON'T BE VISITING MACY'S.  Blaming coronavirus, Santa Claus won’t appear at Macy’s flagship in New York plus Chicago and San Francisco stores this year.  It interrupts a holiday tradition that debuted nearly 160 years ago.

TESLA ELIMINATES PR STAFF.  Tesla Motors, one of the nation’s largest companies, eliminates its media relations department.  It’s an unusual move and journalists will have a difficult time seeking the right Tesla person for answers to questions.

NORTH KOREA RATTLES AGAIN.  No matter who wins in the November election, the U.S. administration will face a growing nuclear threat from North Korea, which recently rolled out a huge new intercontinental ballistic missile that may be able to target the United States.  Observers figure the North’s next step will likely be to test-fire a long-range missile, but probably not until after the results are in from the Nov. 3 vote.

99-CENT SHRIMP COCKTAIL REAPPEARS IN VEGAS.  Good news for shrimp cocktail lovers:  The 99-cent classic returns to Las Vegas with the opening this week of the Circa hotel-casino in the city’s downtown area. Keep in mind, the special is offered from 3 a.m. to 5 a.m.

STOLEN MING CHINESE VASE RECOVERED IN U.K.  British police recover a 15th century Ming Chinese vase valued at $3.3 million that was stolen in June, 2019 in Switzerland.  Police arrest two suspects and say the vase will be returned to Switzerland.

 

N.Y. DINERS SERVED EXPENSIVE WINE BY MISTAKE.  A young couple, dining in New York City, order an $18 bottle of wine at a popular restaurant but are served a $2,000 bottle meant for a table of businessmen, who didn’t even notice they ended up drinking the cheap stuff. Identical decanters are blamed.

 

WOMAN, 102, SKYDIVES.  A Maryland woman fulfills a longtime dream by skydiving for the first time at the age of 102. Vivian (Millie) Bailey, a World War II veteran, says President George H.W. Bush skydiving at 90 years old, provided the inspiration.  After the jump, Bailey calls it exhilarating.

 

SEWAGE PLANT NAMED AFTER COMEDIAN.  Quite an honor?  Comedian John Oliver cuts a ribbon in Danbury, Connecticut with the naming of a new sewage treatment plant in his honor.