Anthony-Thomas/Buckeye Candy

The Anthony-Thomas Chocolates store at this location opened in 1972. The company, formed by Anthony and Thomas Zanetos in 1952, currently has several retail and production locations in the Columbus area. It is one of the largest family-owned and operated candy companies in the Midwest.

One of Anthony-Thomas’ specialty products is peanut butter buckeye candy. The candy was created and popularized by Gail Tabor, a Columbus newspaper reporter, in 1964. It resembles a buckeye nut, hence its now-famous name.

The Ohio State University officially adopted “Buckeyes” at its athletic and school nickname in 1950, although the nickname had been used informally by the school for decades prior. The connection between the university and the candy was immediate; buckeye candy is now a staple of Fall gatherings and OSU football tailgates.

Anthony-Thomas Candy Company is one of several area candymakers supporting Senate Bill 247 which would formally designate the buckeye candy as Ohio’s official state candy. Bill 247 easily passed the Ohio Senate in 2025; and is currently being considered by the House.

The candy business at this location goes much further back than Anthony-Thomas. George Eagle (b. 1894; d. 1975) started a chocolate business in his Columbus home in 1919. In 1937, George and his wife Elsie opened a candy store in this W. 5th Avenue building (later selling to Anthony-Thomas). Like Anthony-Thomas, the Eagle Family Candy Company has also had a successful history in central Ohio; the Eagle family still operates a candy store under their name in nearby Clintonville.

A 1948 Columbus Dispatch advertisement for Eagle’s Candies proclaimed it was “the only candy shop and kitchen in Columbus that is open for your inspection”. The same year, one pound of assorted chocolates sold for $1.00. “Ambrosia milk chocolate and Warfield’s dark dutch” were mainstay ingredients in the company's chocolates and never substituted according to their advertisements in the mid-1940s.

An armed guard stands at the front of Eagle’s Candies before holiday candy sale. 

George and Elsie Eagle (front) with their four children. 

A 1948 Columbus Dispatch advertisement for Eagle’s Candies proclaimed it was “the only candy shop and kitchen in Columbus that is open for your inspection”.  The same year one pound of assorted chocolates sold for $1.00.  “Ambrosia milk chocolate and Warfield’s dark dutch” were mainstay ingredients in the candy and never substituted according to advertisements in the mid-1940s. 

George and Elsie Eagle moved into the two-story house at 1943 W. Fifth Ave. (to the right of the candy store) in 1939.