Marige's Candies, assorted candy box. The lid is done in a gold color and slightly textured. The writing on the top of the lid is done in a brown color and uses a variety of fonts. In top left corner there is seven musical notes and next to it has the text "I'm Always Thinking of..." and in the bottom left corner is the words "Preferred Assortment" both done in Arial font. In the bottom right corner is the phrase "In Tune With Your Taste" done in Times New Roman. Directly above this is "Margie's Candies" done in a cursive script font. On the length side of the box there is the "Margie's Candies" text, but on the front side, under the text is also "773-384-1035". On the right side there is "Margie's Candies" and under is " 1960 North Western Ave. Chicago, Illinois 60647. On the left side are the ingredients: sugar, corn syrup, salt, invert sugar, coconut, cream of tartar, cream, condensed milk, baking soda, citric acid, chocolate, fruits, nuts, 22% and 33% cream, flavors and certified food colors. The base of the box is all white and the tray for the candies is brown; there are twenty seven spots for the candies. One larger square in the center, and multiple 1X1 squares surrounding it. There is just two 1X2 rectangles on the edge.

The original Margie’s is located on Western Avenue in Chicago’s Bucktown neighborhood. Initially known as the Security Sweet Shop, it was founded in 1921 by a Greek immigrant named Peter George Poulos, who soon handed the business to his son George. Chicago mobster Al Capone allegedly patronized the sweet shop during its early years.

In 1933, George Poulos renamed the confectionery Margie’s Candies in honor of his wife, whom he had met at the sweet shop as a youngster. Margie herself began running the business during the 1940s while her husband was serving in the military, and she took full control in 1954 after her husband died of an ulcer. She never remarried, and for the next forty years, she regularly worked in the restaurant for about 15 hours a day, becoming a familiar sight for customers.

Margie’s cemented its place in Chicago lore in 1965 when it hosted the Beatles, who had just played a concert at Comiskey Park. According to the Poulos family, the band came into Margie’s with five girls and ordered several six-scoop “Atomic Sundaes” to share with them. The confectionery currently has a large display of Beatles memorabilia to commemorate the visit.

Margie’s gained additional attention in the early 1990s when Margie Poulos appeared in two thirty-second clips on MTV showcasing individuals with interesting occupations. These clips, which portrayed Margie as she made chocolates, were used to fill the time between commercials and music videos. Singer Liz Phair further popularized the confectionery in 1993 when she posed there for a photograph used in a Newsweek interview.

In 2005, the original Margie’s was mentioned in one of the riddles used for the OurColony Alternate reality game. The message read, “Here sweet Margie sits. At this difference it sees the rich, the poor and everything in between”. Successful players realized that the riddle referred to Western Avenue, a long street which runs through many diverse neighborhoods.

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