12 Old-School Candy Shops That Are Worth Planning Your Vacation Around
Satisfy your sweet tooth at one of these cool stores.
What do you do when you've got a serious sweet craving? Sure, you could head to your nearest convenience store or the bulk shop in the mall. But why not sate your sweet tooth at a place with some serious candy cred? These independent, mostly family-run sweet shops offer everything from candy classics to hard-to-find faves with a side of old-fashioned service. Top that with sweet extras like chocolate waterfalls or signature confections with recipes over a century old, and you might just be in for the treat of your life!
The Candy Baron
With three outposts in the Golden State, Candy Baron offers a massive assortment of candies with an old-timey touch. From barrels of candy classics (remember Squirrel Nut Zippers?) to novelty sweets like roast beef bubble gum, there's something to appeal to every sweet tooth. Candy Baron also stocks rare and hard-to-find candies from the U.S. and Europe.
Big Top Candy Shop
When strolling around Austin, pop into Big Top's circus-themed sweet shop to sample a wide variety of rare and classic candies, from Necco wafers and barrels of salt water taffy to Asian gummies and Teaberry gum. Quench your thirst for nostalgia with an egg cream at their old-fashioned soda fountain.
Economy Candy
It's not fancy, folks, but nor is it pricey. Indeed, Economy Candy lives up to its name in both cost and design aesthetic, but this New York City fixture is rich in candy, candy, and more candy. Treating customers sweetly since 1937, family-owned Economy offers a wide variety of candy classics, old-fashioned favorites, kosher and sugar-free goodies, plus a large selection of imported confections. If you can't find it at Economy, they probably don't make it.
Grandpa Joe's Candy Shop
Both the sweets lover and the Type A organizer will be in paradise at Grandpa Joe's Candy Shop, where each wall and row of the store is covered in perfect shelves of primary-colored sugary treats. The chain has eight locations across Pennsylvania and Ohio, but they all boast the "world famous $5 candy buffet," where you cram as much candy as you can into a $5 box. Be sure to examine all 225 flavors of soda they carry from all over the world—including bacon.
Windy City Sweets
A Chicago staple since 1983, Windy City Sweets set out to create a Willy Wonka-like experience for customers. Spend some time perusing the gourmet chocolate treats made on the premises with their unique custom blend and indeed you'll feel like Augustus Gloop (before he went up the chute). Their gorgeous gift boxes also make for a nice hostess present or souvenir any time of year.
Pinkitzel
Yes, a candy store can be chic! This Oklahoma chain, which has locations in Tulsa and Oklahoma City, has a pop art, Marie Antoinette vibe, and indeed you can eat cake (and cupcakes, in flavors like pink lemonade and chocolate turtle cheesecake). Clear cases and black baskets of sweets abound surrounded by black, white, and pink decor, and party rooms are available for an over-the-top girly soiree.
Cousin's Candy
Got a taste for nostalgia? Head to Cousin's Candy, nestled in the preserved Victorian mining town of Virginia City, MT, for old-fashioned confections, handmade fudge, licorice, and other confections from yesteryear. Or if you happen to be in the Golden State, there's a second location of Cousin's in San Diego's Old Town. Either way, you'll strike sweet gold.
Myzel's Chocolate
Resembling a perfect little shop from a Nora Ephron rom-com, this New York City jewel box is lined wall to wall, floor to ceiling with glass jars filled with old-timey treats—and all the chocolate you could dream of. Do not sleep on their baked goods, particularly the chocolate chip cookie perfected by the family matriarch, Lucy.
Schimpff's
One of the oldest continually operating candy shops in the U.S., Schimpff's has had at least one member of the Schimpff family making sweet treats at this Jeffersonville, IN location since 1891. Schimpff's atmosphere is appropriately quaint and homey, and fourth-generation owners Jill and Warren Schimpff still make many of their old-fashioned candies by hand. Treat yourself to a tour through Schimpff's candy museum and watch a candy-making demonstration, then fortify yourself at the store's 50's-era lunch counter.
Shane Confectionery
Don't get so distracted by the incredible beauty of this Philadelphia store, with its intricate molding and blue-and-white color scheme, that you forge to sample the treats. Craft candy bars are wrapped in gorgeously illustrated wrappers, and there's a variety of historical drinking chocolates, like a Thomas Jefferson recipe that is rich and sweet, or the "Royal Spanish Drinking Chocolate" with cinnamon and chili pepper.
Nelson's Columbia Candy Kitchen
This fourth generation–run family sweet shop has been serving the Columbia State Historical Park community since the late 1800s, and the quaint and rustic decor harkens back to the town's Old West mining origins. Most of the candies are handmade on premises using original recipes from the Danish founder, from divinity to fudge to several varieties of hand-dipped fruits and creams.
Johnson's Candy Company
Three generations have crafted chocolates by hand in this Tacoma, WA shop, which can be easily spotted by its curvy 1950s-style sign. Ice cream bars and chocolate-dipped anything abound, but be sure to check out the fan-favorite butterscotch cashews.
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