LIBERTY – Three years after opening Sweet Memories Vintage Tees & Candy, Linda Barton continues to create T-shirts that bring back a taste of the past.
Barton, owner and CEO of the store, also continues to pay it forward.
The store at 1282 Trumbull Ave. kicked off a three-day anniversary event Friday, and Barton and her staff presented a check for just over $7,000 to Akron Children’s.
Since 2020, when Barton started her business with just the license to create Good Humor apparel, Sweet Memories has donated $74,000 to Akron Children’s.
“It’s so crazy to think that the first check was only $3,000, and we’re up to $74,000,” Barton said. “It’s just amazing how much community support we have.”
Barton credits Akron Children’s with saving her daughter’s life when she was young, and so she originally set a goal to give $5 from each shirt to the hospital. When the initial goal of $40,000 was reached, she decided to perpetually give 10% from each shirt to the hospital.
An infant bed, not coincidentally, starts at $40,000.
“So we do have room 247 named after Sweet Memories at the hospital,” Barton said.
Machelle Syx, senior director of corporate, foundation and community philanthropy at Akron Children’s, said donations like this one go to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, which makes up 50% of the patient volume on a daily basis. On Friday, there were 65 patients in the NICU at Akron Children’s.
“So donations like this really help our tiniest patients and their families get through the hard times,” Syx said.
Syx said the donations go toward the purchase of beds and other supplies the patients need.
“It just feels great that when I wake up in the morning, I’m not just going to work. I’m on a mission,” Barton said. “I’m a very mission-based person, so I always set goals.”
Barton said her new goal for Akron Children’s is $100,000. She has some shirts where the money goes to other charities, as well, including Meals on Wheels, Idora Park Experience and the U.S. Moral Injury Program for soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder.
“Every shirt in here is making its ripple effect,” Barton said.
She loves that her woman-owned business has grown to over 100 licenses for various candies, ice creams and sodas. Many appear on T-shirts and other merchandise. She said she is the largest manufacturer of licensed ice cream and candy shirts in the U.S.
Along with the T-shirts, shoppers can find a selection of old-fashioned candies, sodas and even toys from days gone by.
“It’s about the community,” Barton said. “We like to feature things in local history, as well as local brands.”
She recently obtained the rights to Golden Age Beverage, founded in Youngstown. She intends to revitalize the soda brand and open another area behind her current store, the Golden Age Vintage Marketplace. She envisions the marketplace to be a small business incubator for those who make crafts but don’t have a place to sell them.
Sweet Memories’ third anniversary community appreciation weekend event runs through Sunday with the store open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. everyday.
Throughout the weekend, customers can purchase the new Handel’s Ice Cream merchandise; take advantage of buy one, get two free deals on select T-shirts; enjoy free bubblegum cigars; and be entered into a basket raffle.
Pictured at top: From left are Stephanie Hitt; Linda Thomas; Adrian Offutt; Delaney Pallo; Machelle Syx, Akron Children’s representative; Linda Barton, owner of Sweet Memories Vintage Tees & Candy; Abbey Hennessy; Sonya McKelvey; and Ella Hare.