Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Candy Source: Economy Candy, NYC

I’m candy trippin’ ... I’m in New York City, New York this week and I’m trying to hit all the best candy stores Manhattan has to offer. The amazing thing is that there are so many of them. What’s even more amazing is the ubiquity of candy here. It seems a bit harder to find candy in Los Angeles, sure, it’s at the grocery store, the drug store but the breadth and scope of candy in New York far surpasses any other city I visit. My guess is that New Yorkers need more energy. Folks walk everywhere or take public transportation and that takes a lot out of you. Well, it’s not like candy is the only choice they have, fresh fruit abounds, but I suspect there’s less guilt about it here.

imageEconomy Candy has been in business for nearly 70 years and has an incredible selection. They feature both domestic candy by the bar: Hershey, Nestle/Wonka, Mars (including Colorworks M&Ms), Jelly Belly, Atkinson, Annabelle’s, Pearson’s, Tootsie and probably plenty of others. They also had an exceptional selection of consumer candy bars from Europe, like Cadbury’s Flake series, Aeros, Lion bars and even some Israeli bars from Elite. But there were also other high-end bars from Scharffen Berger (great prices), Cafe Tasse (review soon!), Cote d’Or, Droste, Feodora, Lindt, Niederegger, Ritter, Toblerone and even those Chick chocolate bars.

The place is literally packed to the rafters, the shelves go up at least ten feet and I had trouble remembering to look high and low to keep from missing things. They had Dutch and Finnish licorices by the pound, every possible gummi and jelly you might want (yes, I got a half pound of Swedish fish, all red)

Because this is the week of Easter and Passover they had special displays to meet both needs. After all, candy is inclusive, not exclusive. There’s no rule that says that a dark chocolate egg can’t come to a seder (Kosher of course) and wouldn’t some chocolate covered matzohs might be a fun inclusion in an Easter basket.

My favorite there was their selection of Halvah. They have all the Joyva versions, marbled, plain, nuts ... but they also had the little morsels of halvah dipped in dark chocolate and rolled in almonds. Heaven! The halvah is flaky, not too sweet and melts in your mouth. It’s terribly messy stuff and I was eating mine over the trash basket in my hotel room.

There were a few things they don’t carry, in case you were wondering. There’s not much of anything from Asia and nothing that crosses over into the cookie family. They do, however, have a large selection of dried fruits and nuts. But you’re not going to do much better on prices, especially in NYC. There are some other candy stores, sure, but they charge a premium just because of the name on the bag. Economy is true to its name. Plain old sugar candies (hard candies, Mary Janes, Tootsie Rolls, etc.) are less than $2 a pound. Jelly Belly - $5.99 a pound ... Jordan Almonds - $3.99 a pound ... Gummis - $2.49-$3.99 a pound. All prices are good on their website, too.

The places is overwhelming. Even though I immersed myself in their website before we went, just to make sure I was familiar with their products, I still didn’t know where to look. I was expecting a huge store, and in all fairness, it is. But it was packed with people (if you can, go earlier in the morning on weekends or try a weekday). I might have to go there again (yes, it’ll be my third visit) just because I know I missed some things (and I was with other people both times).

Economy Candy
108 Rivington Street
New York, New York 10002
F Train to Delancey, walk one block up Essex to Rivington
1-800-352-4544
Check their site for updated hours

POSTED BY Cybele AT 8:55 am Tracker Pixel for Entry     New York CityShopping

Comments
  1. ECONOMY CANDY, YES!  I always bring people there, so…I have no idea how many times I’ve been by now.  Surprisingly, I don’t buy something every time I go.  But I usually want to.  Must..resist…

    Comment by Robyn on 4/11/06 at 3:29 pm #
  2. Economy does have one cookie-type thing: by the register, in open bins, are chocolate-covered graham crackers.

    Comment by Stephanie on 4/14/06 at 7:36 am #
  3. Economy Candy does have a great selection, but often much of their stock is stale.

    Comment by Reader on 8/17/06 at 11:46 am #
  4. Do you have any little candies wrapped like NYC taxi cabs ??

    Comment by Judy Koepff on 8/24/06 at 6:00 am #
  5. i thought it was great i loved it was the best candy in the world.

    Comment by Amber Woolsey on 5/15/08 at 4:23 am #
  6. calilove441's avatar

    I would love to visit this place!

    Comment by calilove441 on 12/08/08 at 2:42 pm #
  7. Halvah with pistachios
    Hard candy
    Turkish delight

    Comment by Stephen Salzberg on 9/05/13 at 7:40 pm #
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