Last act for Aida Opera Candies?

“Little walk-in cookie sales don’t do it, you need big sales that you can count on and I’ve been trying to look for that,” Basques said. “If I can pay all my bills with all the compliments I get every day I would not have a problem.”

Back in November 2012, the candy shop moved from its original spot when another business needed the extra space. Even in the original spot, Aida Opera Candies was still hidden and Basques hoped that the new location would help business. The shop was started in San Francisco by Basques’ grandfather Anthony Basques who had a love for candy and music. By combining the two, the candy shop was born — Anthony Basques was a candy maker in the day and a musician at night. To honor him, the shop holds special chocolate candies shaped as musical notes, instruments and photos of Anthony and his band.

As Basques recalled, not only her original customers did not know about the move due to short notice, but the business was impacted by the timing of Burlingame Avenue construction to widen the sidewalks.

“The timing of the move was horrible because when we no sooner built this beautiful store they then started tearing up the street,” Basques said. “So I had months [where] we were cut off from customers at points where they had to go down wooden planks and find the store.”

Now that the construction is long over, the main struggle of keeping the shop open has been a little more difficult due to lack of parking, parking fees and the summer heat resulting in fewer customers.

To accommodate the matter, candy maker Michele Porrazzo said it is normal for her, Basques and head candy maker Cary Selsbeck, also son of Basques, to run candy orders out to double-parked customers. If the customers happen to find parking, Basques explained that people feel they do not have time to look at new shops because of time limits.

Basques and Porrazzo agree it is worth running orders to customers in their vehicles since it does keep the revenue coming and the customers happy. As Porrazzo said, there is a bigger difference of being able to come inside the shop and to take time to pick out a favorite treat versus ordering it online — although they tend to sometimes be custom orders.

“Since people are often looking down at their phones and miss the shop, there are a lot more orders online which result in people picking up their candy,” Porrazzo said. “Going into the candy shop is technically the ‘Happy Pharmacy,’ candy is a substitute to ease the pain.”

In the summer heat, there are fewer customers because chocolate isn’t the first choice of food for the hot season.

In efforts to advertise and to keep business going, the shop sells chocolate-dipped frozen bananas. Other summer-themed items the shop carries are chocolate-dipped Twinkies and salted caramel S’mores on a stick. The shop also offers a Game of Thrones chocolate collection which feature molds of the symbols from the popular show.

Selsback said his mother, Basques, is the glue to the shop but they will likely close by the end of the year when their lease is up.

“People do not understand that there’s a lot that goes into shipping a small piece of candy especially when trying to keep it cold,” Selsback said. “We can’t compete against a website like Amazon where someone can order their candy and get it the next day.”