Candy Craze: The real candy crush

Jody-Anne Lawrence, Gleaner Writer

It is a crazy idea to have so many guilty pleasures in one place, but Melanie Levy and her husband, Kent, incorporated almost every kid's sweet-tooth dream in Candy Craze Candy Bar and Creamery.

When you enter Candy Craze, you are greeted by gravity and scoop bins filled with a wide range of candies that you can just help yourselves to. The candies from the self-serve section are priced by the ounce. People are allowed to mix and match any candy they like from the major section, and that would come to $60 per ounce, while from the premium section, it will cost a bit more at $85 per ounce.

These sections have candies from jelly beans to chocolates in a variety of flavours. This is the main feature of the store as described by owner, Melanie.

"The thing about Candy Craze that you cannot get anywhere else is the variety. If you want gummy bears and something else, you have to buy each in a pack individually, but at Candy Craze, you can get gummy bears, chocolates, jelly beans all in one. You don't have to choose one or the other," she said.

There is no limit at Candy Craze. They also have candies that you can pick up in its pack, like the infamous Nerds and Mike and Ike. There are candies like the Sugapova brand from tennis player Maria Sharapova that is only distributed by Candy Craze, as well as Radz, which is an interactive candy. At Candy Craze, there is a candy for everyone.

This was something that Melanie always wanted to do. She was motivated by her own sweet tooth and wanted to have a place that everyone could enjoy. "Candy Craze is about creating that experience. Most children just love candies, and adults love candy, too, so I just wanted to bring out the child in everyone," she said. She continued, "I really love candy. When I have ice cream at home, I get everything sweet that I can find in my refrigerator and just throw it in and mix it up." That was definitely the inspiration for her creamery corner.

The creamery corner is dedicated to ice cream. They are served in three sizes: crazy, wild and insane, which is small, medium and large, respectively. What makes Candy Craze different from the rest is instead of just drizzling topping on top of your ice cream they knead it into the ice cream. They pride themselves on owning the only granite cold-stone slab which allows the ice cream to stay frozen, thus allowing them to knead any of the 30 toppings that customers chose into their ice cream with ice cream spades. This is a treat to both watch and devour as you no longer have to worry about the toppings ending when you are halfway through your ice cream.

Starting Candy Craze was not an easy venture or an overnight idea. This was something that Melanie mulled over for four years and did countless research to make possible. It was her first business and she wanted to make sure she got everything right, down to the slogan, 'Life is sweet, eat candy, be happy'.

Candy Craze also does takeaway tokens for corporate events, birthday parties and baby showers, with a small section in the store dedicated to party items. It can be a one-stop shop when you are planning a party for a child.

The store has over 200 different candy offers and also takes input from customers to continuously improve and provide exactly what every customer wants.

"I always ask my customers about their experience and I try to add something new. I ask my customers if there are candies that they love but they don't see here, and if they say so, when I make a new order, I will try it," said Melanie.

When it comes to customers' favourite, that is the Sour Patch Kids candies. "It is hard to say because every customer has their likes, but many go for the Sour Patch Kids," she told Food.

Candy Craze, Candy Bar and Creamery is open seven days a week - Monday to Thursday 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., and Sunday midday to 10 p.m. It is located at Kiosk #1, Upper Manor Park Plaza, 184 Constant Spring Road, Kingston.

jody-anne.lawrence@gleanerjm.com