Dylan's Candy Bar: The Sweetest Spot in the World

User Signup Form
*Fields in red are required
Username:	Check Availability
Password:	Retype:
First Name:	Last Name:
Age:	Gender:	MaleFemale
Email:
Zip Code:	INetGlobal Id:

Published: 01/18/2010 by Lauren Elizondo

It’s called Dylan’s Candy Bar, but to many - especially myself - it’s a personal Mecca of every sugary thing worthwhile.

Have I been there? Sadly, no. Do I crave to go there with the same intensity that my lungs crave oxygen? You bet your candy buttons I do!

Located in the heart of New York City, this confectionary castle has been doling out everything from signature Belgian chocolates to rainbow swirl pops for nearly a decade. I knew I was hooked as soon as I saw photos of the colorful shop beaming like a sugar-coated beacon guiding candy fiends of all ages to its doors.

You were right if you guessed that a place this sweet must have had a sweet beginning.

CEO and founder of Dylan’s Candy Bar, Dylan Lauren, opened this lip-smacking spot after her perpetual love of candies and chocolates was heightened during her year abroad in London and Rome while attending Duke University.

Lauren’s life had already been more than semi-charmed (she’s fashion icon Ralph Lauren’s daughter!), but then her lifelong dream to open a candy store finally came true in 2001. Now, nearly a decade later, the flagship store, located at 1011 Third Avenue in New York City, has grown three levels - gaining the record-breaking title as the world’s largest candy store.

What amazed me about Dylan’s Candy Bar, besides the whopping selection of more than 5,000 types of candies, was the level of detail put into decorating the store. Lauren describes in a video tour on the store’s Web site (www.dylanscandybar.com) that she was inspired by not just the movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, but Candyland the board game and Disneyland as well.

And any fan of the 1971 Oompa Loompa flick could point out niceties in the shop that were inspired by the movie. For instance, in parts of the shop there’s striped wallpaper with color-coordinated designs of different types of candies, from gummy sharks to red licorice sticks and yellow wax bottles. Anybody would be tempted to lick it, like Veruca Salt and the rest of the cast did in Willy Wonka. Snozzberries, anyone?

Fortunately for many folks, Dylan’s Candy Bar has expanded to five locations, New York City (the flagship store), East Hampton, NY, Garden City, NY, Houston, TX, and Orlando, FL. Unfortunately for me, I live nowhere near any of the locations.

Am I doomed to wander the icy streets of Minnesota forever, looking for a candy shop that even remotely comes close to the sheer size and selection Dylan’s Candy Bar boasts? I know I can always order candy from its Web site, but to be deprived from walking the steps bearing the message, “May each step you take be sweet,” written in candy bits just might be too unbearable for me to fathom.

The question I ask myself now is when will I make my own longed-for pilgrimage to the place that makes my candy-coated heart pitter patter? You’ll hear about it when I do!

***Share your Dylan’s Candy Bar experience with V-Local Staff Writer Lauren Elizondo and V-Local readers!