Discontinued: Childhood Favorite Gone from Colorado Shelves

A couple of candy stores have opened in the area recently. I found both of them catered to the fun candies of days gone by. Think Necco wafers, Charleston Chews, and Fruit Stripe gum. If you enjoyed the latter, you’d better hurry to find it.

Get our free mobile app

I can remember getting Fruit Stripe gum when I was younger. If you’ve ever had it, you know you could probably devour the entire pack within minutes. The flavors – Wet n’ Wild Melon, Lemon, Cherry, Orange, and Peach – were tasty. But, at least for me, the flavor didn’t last long. Hence, you’d end up chewing the entire pack before you knew it. Evidently in the 1970’s, a chocolate version of the gum was introduced. I don’t know about you, but to me, gum is gum and chocolate is chocolate.

Fruit Stripe gum was introduced in 1960 and was sold by the Beech-Nut Company. The mascot for the gum was originally known as the Fruit Stripe Gum Man, but then the Stripe Family Animals were introduced. The Zebra, named Yipes, became the gum’s mascot. The sticks of gum had zebra stripes on them, and supposedly the striped wrappers also acted as temporary tattoos. I never knew about the tattoos.

Early in 2024, the Ferrara Candy Company announced they would be discontinuing production of Fruit Stripe gum.

I recently saw an ad that you could buy Fruit Stripe on eBay for a ridiculous amount of money. However, I’ll take my chances and hope I can find a package of it at one of the candy stores around here.