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Boston Globe

We are having a candy moment

Customers make their selections at Lil Sweet Treat on Newbury Street. Jonathan Wiggs/Globe Staff Get Winter Soup Club A six-week series featuring soup recipes and cozy vibes, plus side dishes and toppings, to get us all through the winter. Enter Email Sign Up The shops are a child's wildest dream, but they are here for the adults. 'What we're trying to capture is that feeling of feeling like a kid in a candy store,' says Ross, who calls her customers 'candy connoisseurs' and emphasizes the concept of community. 'How do you create those moments of magic and joy, in even the smallest parts of your day? Everyone needs a little joy right now, and candy has that. It knows no bounds. Regardless of age, culture, gender, ethnicity, everyone can appreciate a sweet treat.' Advertisement On Clarendon Street in the South End, Madeleine's Candy Shop specializes in Swedish candy and more. It opened in February. Devra First Especially right now. Lil Sweet Treat arrives on the heels of 'I've always had a major sweet tooth, and the Swedish candy craze was taking off in New York. I'd be Googling, walking around trying to find it,' says founder Madeleine Brason, who left a career in clinical research for candy. 'I identified a gap in the market for candy stores, and also in a selfish way, I wanted a lifetime supply of unlimited candy for myself.' Another pick-and-mix-style candy store, If it seems candy sales must be exploding, that isn't the case exactly. Dollar sales are up (2.5 percent for chocolate and 3.6 for non-chocolate), but unit sales are down (2 and .9 percent respectively), according to Chicago-based market research firm Circana. Cocoa prices continue to rise, and budgets continue to tighten. Consumers are shifting purchasing patterns, perhaps buying less candy or different candy. But there is still candy in almost every household in America. 'We have not seen households back away from treating,' says Sally Lyons Wyatt, global EVP and chief adviser for Circana. 'Candy is one of those categories that everybody loves. It is something that brings joy, it is something essential to social occasions, and that I don't think is ever going to waver.' Advertisement Happy Buttons are one of Lil Sweet Treat's own offerings, bouncy and chewy smiley faces in strawberry, raspberry, pear, and pineapple. Jonathan Wiggs/Globe Staff In this landscape, one category keeps doing well: gummy candy. Consumers (particularly younger ones) cannot resist the lure of brightly colored, chewy, sweet, and tart gummies in a glorious riot of shapes and textures. 'The only categories growing in interest from younger consumers are all chewy: chewy candy, beef jerky, gum,' says Hunter Thurman, founder of Cincinnati-based consulting firm Alpha-Diver, which focuses on why consumers do the things they do. 'Chewing actually has some real proven stress relief ability.' In case you haven't noticed, the last few years have been a lot. 'We have measured it, and we have seen over the last five to six years people are feeling more and more anxious and stressed. The upshot is more people are looking to make themselves feel better,' Thurman says. 'From an evolutionary psychology perspective, food and drink are right at the core of how we help ourselves feel better. There's a reason there's a phrase called comfort food.' The scene inside Boston's Lil Sweet Treat on a recent Thursday afternoon. Jonathan Wiggs/Globe Staff Perhaps we are candy freaks because we are control freaks. 'If you ask a psychologist what do human beings crave above all else, there's one answer: control,' Thurman says. 'Something like candy is very easy to control. I can't control what's happening in Iran or the economy, but I can control something that makes me feel better in the near term.' Banana-caramel Bubs? Don't mind if I do. It's emotional self-regulation. Advertisement Stores like Lil Sweet Treat, Madeleine's Candy Shop, and Nantasket Sweets are tapping into this: Safe spaces, Thurman calls them. They also offer an experience, one more affordable than tickets to a game or a concert, or a new outfit, or dinner out. (Although these candies aren't cheap, priced at around $20 per pound, it's all relative.) In a recent Circana snacking survey, 59 percent of consumers said they like to eat snacks that add excitement to their daily diet, and 58 percent are looking for authentic and/or unique experiences, says Lyons Wyatt. Eric Williams makes pick-and-mix selections at Lil Sweet Treat. Jonathan Wiggs/Globe Staff 'Those stores are the answer to this,' she says. 'They are really feeding into the experience, the excitement. Let's face it, it's been pretty heavy stuff the last few years. These stores are just a breath of fresh of air.' That's the idea. This summer, Madeleine's Candy Shop will open an adjacent ice cream window, serving creemees, Vermont's take on soft-serve. (Yes, you can add candy to your ice cream.) 'I think in a post-pandemic world we're really just looking to feel like kids again and have that nostalgia and be playful,' says Brason, who offers chopsticks with each bag of candy, to aid customers in their nibbling. 'With a candy store like this, the options are limitless. We can have a lot of fun.' Sour hitschies from Belgium at Lil Sweet Treat. Jonathan Wiggs/Globe Staff Devra First can be reached at