Alpine bought the brand, along with the related Fanny Farmer brand and a number of company-owned retail properties, from Archibald Candies for about $38.6 million as part of a winning bid at a bankruptcy sale. Archibald filed Chapter 11 reorganization earlier this year, for the second time in less than two years. The brand's retail stores were closed as a part of the bankruptcy, but the candies have been available in the interim at area grocery stores and on line, manufactured by Alpine under a licensing agreement.

The first Fannie May store to return is near Chicago Ridge Mall at 95th St. and Ridgeland Avenue in southwest suburban Oak Lawn, IL, which opens this morning. The first 100 customers in the store after it opens will receive a free one-pound box of Fannie May candy. The other stores will open on a staggered schedule continuing into mid-November.

"We're carrying on the Fannie May tradition for future generations, with stores opening in time for the holidays," says Alan Petrik, EVP and general manager of Fannie May Confections, stressing the continuity between the re-opened stores and the old Fannie May. "Each store will have a broad array of chocolates, just like our customers remember. They'll still be able to hand-pick assortments of candy and fudge at the counter, and we'll have longtime favorites pre-packaged, like the Colonial Box, Buttercreams, Caramels, Pixies, Mint Meltaways and Trinidads."