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Reprinted from News-Herald, Wickliffe, Ohio; April 3, 2000
Sara Landis was interviewed by Ruby Lee Gamble and photographed by Ken Blaze of The News-Herald.
Entertainment M&M's
Some people love to eat M&M's, Sara Landis loves to collect everything that goes along with it. Landis 35 of Wickliffe, said she began collecting M&M paraphernalia in 1992. "It was about eight years ago that a family member gave me an M&M candy figure as a gift," she said. "After that I received another one from someone else. I thought they were cute and I kind of went crazy over them after that." Landis, an accountant/bookkeeper with her family business, Luminaud, in Mentor, said she enjoys eating the candy, but she prefers to collect the M&M items. "I have a little over 500 M&M items," she said, "and I keep all of them in my office at work. It is pretty packed. I have M&Ms on my shelves, walls and my desk." Some of the M&M items she has include plastic and plush figures, candy dispensers, cookie and candy tins, glasses, cups, bowls, pins, cars, trucks, rolls of wrapping paper, posters, mugs, NASCARs and more. "I try to get almost everything I can from the '80s," she said. "The new stuff has been mass produced, so you really can't get it all. I try to concentrate on the items made in the '80s like dispensers or the candy toppers that come on the tubes. Trying to find the older items is hard, because it is very rare to find them around here." "The only place I can find things locally is at garage sales and flea markets," she said. "It is hard to find M&M items here because most people don't know they are collectibles." There is an international M&M collectors club, and Landis is a member. She said the M&M Collectors Club has close to 200 members world wide. "They just had their second annual convention in Orlando," she said. "Next year's convention will be in Las Vegas where there is an actual M&M store." Landis said anyone who is interested in starting a M&M collection should contact the club at www.mnmclub.com, or they should purchase the book "M&M Around The World: A Collector's Guide" by Ken Clee and Joyce Losonsky. Landis said she is planning to continue to add to her growing collection. She said her 8-year-old son Carlos is fascinated with it. "My son is really interested in my collection," she said. "However, my husband [Scot], well, this really isn't his thing, but he supports me in my love of M&M's."
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