Don't sweat the sweet stuff

There's probably no surprise in saying that Americans have a sweet tooth. Americans, in fact, buy more candy each year than they do salty snacks like chips and pretzels, more candy than breakfast cereal, more candy than ice cream and more candy than cookies. According to the National Confectioners Association, Vienna, Va., the only thing they buy more of than candy is milk and carbonated beverages. It's a business that rose to $27.9 billion at retail in 2005, outpacing the traditional toy business with purchases that are often made less than a dollar at a time. And people buy it almost everywhere, from supermarket checkout counters to convenience stores, warehouse clubs to movie theaters—everywhere, it seems, except toy stores.

Beyond Toys “R” Us and FAO Schwarz, finding candy at most independent toy stores is almost as difficult as finding toy guns. And while it's no surprise that candy manufacturers are working to change that dynamic, some toy stores are also turning to candy as a quick pick-me-up alongside the more traditional toy market impulse products that may not melt in your hand, but sure wouldn't taste nearly as good.

“Candy is certainly viable in a toy store, there's no ifs, ands or buts about it,” says John Pola, vice president of sales at gourmet jelly bean maker Jelly Belly Candy Co., Fairfield, Calif. “If you look at the history of places like Toys “R” Us and FAO with full bulk sections, that's certainly the case, and there are success stories of candy in toy stores everywhere.” Pola should know; he owned a specialty toy store himself before joining Jelly Belly.

“Where it really works is for party favors, or for a quick pick-up and immediate consumption,” Pola says. “And most toy stores are looking for something that's inexpensive and can turn rapidly—and a lot of [toy stores] don't have that many options for that, except for little chotchke gifts, so this gives them something inexpensive, but with the value of a brand name like Jelly Belly on it.”

In the last three years, Jelly Belly has increased its efforts to sell into independent toy stores, Pola says. That's when it began showing at the American International Toy Fair a rack unit specifically for toy stores called the Jelly Belly Kiosk. It offers 200 items for less than $2 each. “It gives a really quick turnover on a quality item that's well-branded,” Pola says. “Stores get the opportunity to turn product quickly and at keystone or keystone-plus—at great margin.”

Beyond of the kiosk, the company recently unveiled Lollibeans, 10 flavors of jelly beans in 1-ounce lollipop form that it expects to appeal to toy stores. Besides their price (SRP of $1 each on a 38-cent wholesale), Pola says the lollipops are particularly popular as a way to top off a gift: “People will often buy those to use with the gift wrapping; just slip them right in there with the bow.” This summer the company also debuted Sweet Rocks, a product it hopes will be the next Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans, of Harry Potter fame, (a product the company manufacturers for Hasbro's CapCandy division) or take off like the E.T.-fueled Reese's Pieces did in the early 1980s. The special collection of jelly beans is based on last month's Warner Bros. Pictures' animated film The Ant Bully, an adaptation of John Nickle's children's book of the same name in which Jelly Belly brand jelly beans play a prominent role.

One place where the aforementioned Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans was not a hit was Tiddlee Winx Toys 'n' Stuff in Whitecourt, Alberta, which is surprising because it's one of those rare specialty toy retailers that more than just dabbles in candy.

“They're gruesome!” says Lori Hausauer, Tiddlee Winx's buyer and sales associate, of the assortment's famously dicey flavors. “Candy needs to taste good! That's our bottom line. But we do carry the standard Jelly Belly line—everything they've got.”

At Tiddlee Winx, candy is serious business and they mostly sell it the old-fashioned way: unwrapped, in glass apothecary jars. “We do not allow the customers to help themselves,” Hausauer says. “We put on food-safe gloves and we serve the customer even if that means counting out 300 one-cent candies. If someone's just dumped 300 cents on the counter, that's exactly what we'll do. And believe me, I'm called upon to do that a lot.”

The store also stocks imported candy from the U.S. and Britain, like Curly Wurly bars and “retro stuff” like Fun Dip and Beeman's Gum, along with gummies and an assortment of individually wrapped candy that customers are allowed to touch. There are also candy kaleidoscopes and other novelty items like Cars lollipops or licensed Pez dispensers. “We occasionally offer quite a bit of Pez because there is a collector edge to it” that helps it sell, Hausauer says.

“Candy's my bread and butter on a daily basis,” she says. “It's very popular and not just with the kids. A lot of the adults thoroughly enjoy it. People don't have to spend a lot on it—that helps. A dollar will get you something that tastes good and won't break the bank. It's an impulse, but also a luxury.”

And it's definitely profitable, she adds. “I wouldn't say you're ever going to get rich off it, but it's a heck of a lot of fun. You really don't know what fun is until a 3-year-old walks in and says, 'I got this much pennies,' and drops a handful on the counter and then you watch her reaction when she sees just how much candy she can get with that. The look on their faces is absolutely priceless!

At Sweet Dreams in Berkeley, Calif., candy “is very important for us financially,” says owner Gary Gendel. He currently has two toy stores, plus his original business, a candy and gift store on the same block as the Berkeley store.

“For us, there are no minuses to candy,” he says. “It fits with what Sweet Dreams is and what we've been doing for 35 years. Candy is our roots.”

Gendel also preserves the penny candy store vibe, glass apothecary jars and all, continuing the tradition of selling 10 cents worth of jelly beans to a child who comes in with only 10 cents .

Space is limited at the toy stores, so Gendel picks from the strongest sellers at the candy store that he believes kids are going to like. “That really has boiled down to a lot of gummy candies and sours,” he says, along with classic rainbow lollipops on wooden sticks. “Lollipops are always popular,” he says, “and so is licorice, but with the moms, not the kids. They come in to get birthday presents and usually will buy a quarter pound of black licorice for themselves.”

It's staples like lollipops and licorice and packaged candy that Gendel recommends as best bets for toy stores looking to begin stocking candy.

“If it's done the right way and mix[ed] in appropriately, it's a nice addition,” he says. “If you decide to bring candy in your store, bring in some Pez products, some staples like lollipops, packaged items. Bulk gets a little more difficult because you need scales to weigh things out.”

Tiddlee Winx's Hausauer recommends seeking out suppliers “who don't demand that you buy $1,000 worth of stuff each week, because you don't need to stock that much. You have to be willing to stick to just what you think will sell in your store rather than have people sell you pre-pack[ed assortments] because a lot of that doesn't work.”

John Allen, owner of J.W. Allen & Sons, a specialty toy store in Park City, Utah, agrees that shopping for wholesalers is important. “Surprisingly, there are a lot of wholesalers out there that can be double the price of others. With the first couple of accounts I was dealing with, I knew no better, and then as I started buying [candy] more often, I found I could buy things much more competitively after I shopped around a little.”

Candy works as a draw to increase traffic, he says, especially vintage candy that appeals to adults. “A woman called today just to ask if we sell Jujubees. I do, so she came down just to get some,” Allen says. “Who knows whether or not something like that will be an enticement to come into the store and take a look around and buy something other than that as well.”

Like the other retailers contacted for this story, Allen's candy skews toward the classics, with “a lot of things I remember as a kid,” Allen says, “like Zotz or Look bars or Choward's Violet Gum—things you aren't going to find in a 7-11.”

Surprisingly, candy cigarettes are big sellers at J.W. Allen. “I know they're politically incorrect, but I loved them as a kid and I've never become a smoker,” says Allen. His store, which sells specialty market mainstays like Thomas the Tank Engine trains, is a little bit more eclectic than most, Allen admits. “We also do big business in cap guns.”