Western NY Candy Shop Used In ‘The Natural’ Getting Upgrades

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — A 90-year-old Buffalo candy shop that was featured in the movie "The Natural" is getting a makeover.

Main Street's Parkside Candy Shoppe has been awarded $125,000 in New York state funding for a restoration project that its owner Phil Buffamonte says will return the shop to its original grandeur.

Parkside Candy was recently listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is one of the oldest continuously operating small businesses in the neighborhood.

Barry Levinson, director of the 1983 Robert Redford baseball movie "The Natural," used the store for various scenes capturing the spirit of the 1930s.

Officials say the store will get new checkerboard flooring, a replacement for a neon sign that went dark years ago and restored brick and masonry.