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Alycia Mason, owner of the family-run store Candycopia in Oak Park, Illinois, discusses her shop’s unique approach to helping people around the nation discover exciting new candies.
What inspired you to start your business?
Candycopia was born out of our belief that no community is complete without a candy store. My family enjoys visiting local ones while we’re on vacation, and it’s always a highlight to watch our kids’ faces light up while they’re strolling the aisles and discovering new candies. My husband Patrick and I love Oak Park and felt like a candy store here would make a great addition to the area since there are so many young families, tourists, and other small, independent businesses. We’re first-time business owners, and we simply wanted to pour our energy into a venture that would have a positive impact on our community and make people happy. Now we’re getting to do just that; even our daughters, Campbell and Addison, have a chance to work in the store and help customers explore new candies.
What makes your shop unique?
Our commitment to diversity and discovery. We offer an unmatched selection of old-fashioned candies as well as international classics and novelty items, and we strive to highlight diverse-owned businesses and small-batch producers. About 40 percent of our inventory is small-batch candies from candymakers most people would have never experienced before. We tell the stories of each one we feature, helping people learn more about them and what they make.
Further, our storefront is designed to be interactive and allow customers to have more of an experience versus just buying candy. It’s a space for exploration, discovery, and indulgence. Take our candy bar: guests can sit and enjoy a candy or chocolate flight, make their own ice cream float, or indulge in a candy-inspired ice cream sundae. We’ve also created different candy challenges—including sour, spicy, and fear factor (which features candy with bugs!)—as well as a candy quest that is a mix of blind-bag tastings and a scavenger hunt around the store. They’re each a fun way of finding new treats and making memories with your loved ones.
Beyond that, we ship to all fifty states, and we take great care when shipping our candies, especially delicate items like chocolates. So if you order a curated chocolate flight in a warm-weather month, for instance, we’ll use cold packs to maintain the right temperature during transit, ensuring that the candies arrive in perfect condition despite the climate.
What do you enjoy most about being in the candy industry?
The best part is the constant opportunity to bring smiles and sweet moments to our customers’ lives, whether it’s helping someone find a treat for themselves or a loved one, making an event a little bit tastier, or creating a special in-store experience for families. Candy incites joy in people, and it’s great to be a part of that.
How do you stay current with trends?
It involves constant research and engagement with the wider candy community. We listen to our customers’ feedback, attend expos to learn what’s happening within the industry, and even explore social media sites to get an idea of what consumers are interested in. We’ve continually seen that TikTok has a particularly big influence on the kinds of treats teenagers and young adults want to buy. For instance, sour candies (especially gummies), freeze-dried candies, and Swedish gummies are all growing in popularity because of social media trends. So we’ve worked these items into our in-store and online selections to attract consumers and help them discover more options they might not find in other places.
Which candies have proven to be the most popular?
In the store, our bestsellers are the 170 varieties of bulk bars and candies, any of the Chocs ‘N Boxes items, the Dallas Caramel Company caramels, and our different international candy options. Online, our top sellers are our numerous varieties of freeze-dried candies, cotton candy, Chamoy Pickle Kits [a mix of various Mexican candies], and Barnett Mega Sours [the world’s sourest candy].
With Halloween coming up, what treats would you recommend people try?
You can’t go wrong with caramel apples, anything pumpkin or apple cider flavored, or even our gummy body parts!
For more info, visit candycopia.com or follow @candycopia on social media
