If you could picture happiness, it might look like a candy shop.

Well, that's what Sarah and Craig Merrill thought when they opened this place here in Morganton, but this candy shop is different.

Inside you'll find Sarah's original paintings, Craig's homemade fudge, and all things Christmas all year long.

They call it Merrill's Mischief.

Here's why.

[upbeat music] - How you doing today, sir?

- [Sarah] This store is called Merrill Mischief.

- Rocky Road's the favorite today.

- Yeah.

- So, Merrill is our last name.

And we knew that we wanted to open a store that was full of a lot of fun.

We weren't quite sure what that was gonna be.

So, we figured mischief covered everything.

- You know, crazy, Wonka type of stuff.

I do offer a sample of our fudge.

We make it right here in the store.

- The idyllic setting of downtown Morganton certainly lends to the charm of this sweet shop, which continues inside with wall to wall joy.

- So, it goes candy, Christmas year round, and we do have Halloween and some other fun stuff, and then we have the fudge in the back.

And we wanted the candy, because I just really wanted a fun place for kids to come.

- [Narrator] And they mean kids of all ages.

- From toddler right to senior citizen, we love to see the smiles.

- And I like the candy, because of the price points too.

A little kid can come in with a dollar and go out with something fun.

- [Narrator] You name it, they've got it.

From old time candy to the latest and greatest.

- [Craig] And we do our own freeze dried candy now - It tasted like fun on my taste buds.

- [Narrator] It sure does.

And for those who enjoy shopping for Christmas decorations year round, Merrill Mischief does not disappoint.

- And I always go on everything that says Christmas store.

- [Narrator] The artwork, Christmas, or otherwise was hand painted by Sarah.

- So, some of it's really quirky and kind of weird and some of it's really fun.

Some of it's a little more serious, you know, like lighthouses and barns.

Just fun places that give people good memories.

- [Narrator] And then there's their homemade fudge.

- It's so delicious and it makes the store smell amazing.

- [Narrator] That's due to Craig's talent for perfecting the sweet, rich confection.

- [Craig] These recipes are some of mine and some of my friends.

- [Narrator] You see the Merrills moved to North Carolina from Vermont, which is why you'll also find plenty of foods from that state in their store, but it's the recipes Craig learned there that have proven the most delicious here.

- A good buddy of mine asked me before I left Vermont, if I could help him out at, you know, a couple falls at his country store and make him fudge, and I said, "Sure."

- And we have a lot of fun with it.

You can create different flavors of fudge.

A lot of people think it's just chocolate.

It's not just chocolate.

- And then a question I get a lot too is what's your favorite?

And I say, "Well, we talking breakfast, lunch, or dinner?"

So, I try to change up fudges every two to three weeks, depending on the season, Seasonal fudges and this and that.

So, a lot of these are on the counter quite often.

The Dark Chocolate Caramel Sea Salt, that one right there was a finalist in our state magazine.

Maple Kissed Sweet Potato Pie where I use over a pound of sweet potatoes in one batch.

I've got maple syrup in there, I've got spiced pecan in there.

- There's a lot of different ones.

In some with sriracha.

- Nice little kick to it.

- Unique flavors you don't see everywhere.

- Jalapeno, people look at the jalapeno like, wow, jalapeno, I don't know.

And they'll try it and it's a delayed heat and they're like, and it's very calm and it's like, wow, that's beautiful.

And all my fudges too, I make fudge pretty much every day.

I don't stockpile fudge in the back.

So, everything I make is fresh and that dictates what I do on Monday.

I'll be back in Monday making more fudge for Tuesday when we open back up.

So, other than the fudges that you see on the counter here, my dark chocolate covered cherries, which are very popular.

My turtles, which if you see my turtles and we call 'em sea turtles, they're very large or I do fudge-covered Oreos.

- [Narrator] The Merrills think everything tastes better with fudge, just like they believe life in general is just a little bit sweeter with a candy shop in it.

- I just love seeing people's faces when they come in and seeing all the different things.

It's really, it's kind of selfish, 'cause I love it.

It makes my day.

- Merrill Mischief is at 105 East Union Street in Morganton and they're open Tuesday through Saturday from 10:30 to 05:30.

For more information, give them a call at [828] 475-4975 or visit them online at merrillmischief.com.