When a candy store faced closure, two unlikely heroes were determined to keep the store open. They knew the death of the store’s owner, their friend, meant that the young employees were not going to be able to keep the sweets shop open.
But these two men – one a zombie killer and another a superhero – knew just what to do. Alongside their wives, they made headlines in 2014 when the quartet invested in Samuel’s Sweet Shop in Rhinebeck, NY. After all, when actors Paul Rudd and Jeffrey Dean Morgan are involved, they will garner attention.
From left: Actors Paul Rudd, Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Hilarie Burton. Photo by Samuel’s Sweet Shop
Along with Rudd’s wife, Julie Yaeger, and Morgan’s wife, actress Hilarie Burton, the actors stepped up when the store’s owner, Ira Gutner, suddenly passed away. Rudd, known for his roles in various films including “Ant-Man” and “Clueless,” revealed that the decision to invest was deeply personal.
One of the most important things any human can experience is to be a part of a community and feel connected to where you live and to other people who live there, especially in a job like mine,” Rudd said.
The shop’s survival hung in the balance until Morgan, who has starred in “The Walking Dead” and “Grey’s Anatomy,” reached out to the shop’s manager, John Traver. The young man remembers that Morgan was insistent, telling him: “‘Whatever you do, don’t close the shop – hang in there.'”
This pivotal moment marked the beginning of a collaborative effort to keep Samuel’s Sweet Shop alive. The men and their wives immediately invested in the shop, knowing they wanted to Gutner’s dream alive. Morgan explained his reasoning for wanting to keep the shop open when he was on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert”.
“When Hilarie and I came to the area and started getting coffee at Samuel’s,’ Morgan said, ‘Ira made it clear that we were home. We just got each other.” Smiling, he said that he and his wife had just moved to the area, and the first person they had met was Gutner.
The shop never forgets the help from the actors. Photo by Samuel’s Sweet Shop
Telling Colbert in 2016,. “(Gutner) passed away a couple years ago, and Paul [Rudd] and I had been friends for a while and we just didn’t want it to turn into a smoothie stand or something. It had been there since the early ’90s, so we were like, ‘Yeah, let’s pool our money together and get a candy store,’ so now we’re the proud owners of Samuel’s Sweet Shop.”
Reflecting on the significance of their investment, Morgan shared, “Saving Samuel’s is one of the coolest things we have done.” Similarly, Rudd humorously noted, “The best thing about being an owner of a candy shop is getting my favorite holiday candy in June.”
The shop recently celebrated its 25th anniversary, and the power of friends and the local community was on display. For Traver, there wouldn’t be Samuel’s Sweet Shop if not for the actors, their wives and the people that lived around the shop.
“There was triumph out of tragedy … I had lost my friend,” Traver said. “But these really great people came forward and helped me and saved the local candy store, and now I have this incredible opportunity to make this place as successful as I can, which is awesome. It’s great.” Watch below to hear Morgan talk about the candy shop and what it means to him and Rudd.
Sources: Daily Mail | Upworthy
