In spring of 2022, Old Taylor High proprietors Kaitlin and Cliff Olle launched the Chemistry Lab Nitrogen Ice Cream in Room 120 of the 1922 building, featuring dense and creamy ice cream made in 30 seconds flat thanks to the negative 321-degree magic of liquid nitrogen.
This year, the Chemistry Lab, now called Big O’s Classic Candy and Nitrogen Ice Cream, still offers the same variety of regular and vegan ice creams, but there are some new elements too.
“It’s very exciting seeing the change and watching it grow,” said new owner Olin Petke. “We have added fudges … nostalgic candies and candies the kids really like, like Slime Lickers.”
Petke is experimenting with everything from gummi army guys, jet fighters and teeth to handdipped twinkies, chips and
Oreos. For connoisseurs of the old-school, there are also candy cigars and cigarettes, as well as Bob Rossthemed dipping candy with a candy paintbrush.
Petke said he got the idea to transform the Chemistry Lab into a candy store through weekend jaunts around the state with his wife, Jacqueline Simons, owner of Class Act Salon upstairs, and their two sons.
“I have a sweet tooth myself,” Petke confessed. “Jacqueline and I used to just go, ‘Today is Sunday, so let’s just go to a new candy store.’” Though Petke said he didn’t grow up going to sweets’ shops, he remembers being impressed as an adult by their creativity.
“They had chocolate bars, and I thought they were like a Hershey Bar … but it was a Jack Daniels chocolate bar,” he recalled. “I would have never thought of that, so it was exciting to try something new.”
These days, Petke likes to see the surprise on people’s faces when they come into his store.
“It’s kind of an exciting treat for someone who just walked in thinking they were just getting ice cream,” he said. “(They’ll say), ‘I haven’t seen candy cigarettes in so long, so it brings you back to your childhood.’ It really puts a smile on people’s faces.”
