We were introduced to Goodies by a family member who lives on West Lake Okoboji and we loaded up on…read morethe pecan turtles and milk chocolate covered toffee. We had one Turtle each and put the rest in the refrigerator. The next day, we packed and left and went back to AZ and we forgot our goodies! No worries, we ordered some online while driving three hours to the airport. We just received them today and they are incredible! If you don't go there, order them online! They are handmade and so delicious! Go there now or order online! You won't be sorry!

So this is an ice cream and candy shop right? Not only! I find their coffee to be the best in…read morethe area and go here for my morning coffee drinks. All of the candy is good but my personal favorite ends at the homemade caramel. They have the best caramel apples I have had anywhere, hands down. When I come to Okoboji this is my must stop for treats to bring back as well as my morning coffee. The service is quick and friendly. What else can I get here? Hot tea, greeting cards, teapots, colorful kitchen items, gifts, pie, cheesecake, cookies, homemade confections, nuts, ice cream and did I mention coffee? I am sure I missed telling you things. Go here. Have an ice cream cone in the afternoon. Life is more fun with a bit of a treat now and again.

Always make a special trip to Hull for bon bons. So good. Also, according to Yelp, the owner is…read moreconservative so 10/10 for that too.

From the owner: "The Foreign Candy Company has been creating candy innovation since 1978. Hull is where both the…read morecorporate office and candy warehouse outlet store is located. We sell popular brands such as; Rips Licorice®, Rip ROLLS®, Aftershocks Popping Candy®, Eiffel bonbons®, and MANY other fun novelty candies!"

Like a previous Yelper had mentioned in his review prior to mine, this is a great, old-timey candy…read moreshop, located within the Emporium. Came here to see if they would have some unique candies to the Midwest, and lo and behold, they did. I ended up buying a bunch of Caramel Cobs, which I've never seen out East. They made great "little" (little is in quotation marks because these things are actually fairly large for treats) gifts for my friends back home. They have a bunch of other candies as well. Well worth checking out, if you happen to be in the Emporium or near Arnolds Park.

We stop there many summers. This summer a kid I was with showed me the candy cigarettes available…read morethere. While the selection is generally very good, and the people generally pleasant, the clerks were completely unapologetic about selling candy cigarettes (and candy chew). This lead to a long discussion in the car and some disagreement about the appropriate behaviour in such circumstances. So, I won't be back. I'll get candy from places that are quite literally less likely to corrupt (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candy_cigarette). So, you can see this a 5-star review as well as a 1-star review, and if you are a proponent of candy cigarettes, they have the widest selection I've ever seen. They are also overpriced, but for the selection it's a good deal.

This is an old time butcher shop with charm, or as much charm as a butcher shop can have. Whole…read morehog and cow carcasses are rolled out of a refrigerator and made into roasts, chops, steaks, bacon, ground meat, bratwursts, mettwursts and sausage, practically before your eyes. Their bratwurst is one of the Top 100 Things To Eat In Iowa Before You Die. I've eaten plenty of those but we really go for the dried beef, mettwurst and caraway cheese. I've even been known to smuggle a package of frozen dried beef home in my suitcase! There's also all manner of Dutch products including Droste cocoa, Queen Wilhelmina mints, pea soup mix, Dutch chocolates in the shape of windmills and wooden shoes and other Dutch candies. If you stop by, you'll leave with an armful of goodies. If you don't stop by you'll miss one of the true treasures of Orange City.

A few days ago we were in Orange City visiting family. At first I didn't want to go in with my…read morewife to Woudstra's but later I was glad I did. They have a lot of nice meat products in their store as well as specialty edible Dutch items. We bought some smoked pork chops that looked and smelled wonderful. They had all kinds of bacon and great looking beef products that were very reasonably priced. They even ship. The woman at the counter - I'm so sorry I didn't ask her name - was very welcoming, pleasant, and informative. I'll go back again next time were in Orange City.

Good selections of wines and liquors. Excellent meat choices. Lamb is fantastic, if available.read more

A High School classmate highly recommended Forbes Meats and Liquor Locker as a place to buy a…read morereally good steak. It's been around since 1965, and had somehow escaped my attention since I started coming the the Iowa Great Lakes over 40 years ago. Forbes also has a substantial selection of beer and wine, along with some tempting baked goods (near the front counter). The butcher counter is in the back, and it didn't take long for Gayle and I to pick out a few thick and tempting top sirloin steaks (along with some seasoning). You do pay a little more here, but we really felt that we were in good hands. We also stopped by a nearby parked truck and bought some sweet corn from a local farmer. With that, plus some salad fixings and a charcoal BBQ, we were set for a delicious outdoor Iowa meal on what turned out to be a glorious summer evening. However, the steak turned out to be a little tough. Maybe a marinade step would have helped. All the same, we were a bit disappointed considering the price paid and the high previous praise. Maybe we'll have better luck next time with a similar cut or maybe some bacon wrapped fillets. On the other hand, we had some amazing burgers with their ground beef the next evening.

*** PS. They didn't pay me to write this review. ***…read more I bought Taiwanese Sausage from them more than 15 years and keep on coming back when I need. I can buy any sausage from my Asian supermarket but I like Formosa brand than all the others. The reason I buy from them is the sausage always FRESH make at Iowa facility, not like others were imported from Asia (far away/longer travel time to get to my local market) which was also very salty/dry and with preservative. Formosa's sausage is always moist/lightly salted, so I don't have to worry about sodium too much. BBQ Sausage - 台南式香腸 - is the one I always ordered which has a little bit sweet touch of it, very good and easy to put on the stick and grill with a garlic piece as an appetizer/snack when you have party. I also use BBQ Sausage to make stir fried brown rice (香腸糙米炒飯) and turnip cake (蘿蔔糕) when I have party or potluck get together and people like it. They also have some traditional Taiwanese snacks like flavored Beef Jerky (加味牛肉乾), Cuttlefish slice or stripe (烤魷魚片/魷魚絲) and side dish choice for rice/congee (肉酥鬆肉脯). Details please refer to official website at www.formosafood.com, hope you find my review useful and enjoy your purchase/food from local business.

A place to get sausages, dried jerky, etc. - order enough and you can get a shipping discount. They…read moremake all their food in the US. A little more expensive than getting some of the items at the local Chinese ethnic grocery, but reasonably good quality and taste. http://www.formosafood.com/ They offer discounts: - Orders with "Subtotal" over $300 qualifies for a 5% discount. Use Coupon Code "DISC5" at checkout. - "Subtotal" over $500 qualifies for a 10% discount. Use Coupon Code "DISC10" at checkout. - "Subtotal" over $1000 qualifies for a 15% discount. Use Coupon Code "DISC15" at checkout.

Purchased an AKC certified puppy in MA. Turns out he came from this puppy mill with hundreds of…read moreviolations. The puppy was very sick when we brought him home, we've spent over $1200 so far on vet bills. After learning more about this puppy mill operation it makes sense that he came home sick. Horrible review after review of puppies dying at early ages from genetic defects. My heart is absolutely broken to learn this about my newest family member. Will be dedicated to shutting ALL PUPPY MILLS DOWN. If this is such a nice family run business, where are all the pics of the daily operations? Sweet pups playing and being well taken care of? Shame on the owners of this operation. Shipping baby puppies from MN to MA. Awful.