One of the best things about traveling to a new place, or even a place you’ve been once or twice before, is aimlessly wandering its streets. Roaming without an agenda can bring the most delightful discoveries: an old bookshop with a treasure trove of first editions, a vintage clothing store with 1950s Chanel and 1970s Céline, or a quaint café seemingly lost in another era. But classic old sweetshops are getting harder and harder to find. Happening upon one while traversing a city is a real treat: The interiors are gilded and ornate and the chocolates, pastries, and candies are specially handmade to look like little jewels.
Here, five of the loveliest old candy stores from around the world to “discover” while meandering.
Dylan’s Candy Bar
801 Lincoln Road, Miami
dylanscandybar.com
Candy mogul Dylan Lauren—daughter of fashion designer Ralph Lauren—brought her popular treat emporium south in 2013. A lollipop tree stands in the center of the main floor, candy cane columns surround the perimeter, and cases are adorned with oversize candy buttons. Lauren collaborated with Gensler on the design for the space in the landmarked building and kept the original wood ceilings, which she thought looked like chocolate bars.
The Candy Room
1/155 Queen Street, Melbourne
+61-39-670-7665
Local firm Red Design Group used line drawings to create the playful two-dimensional surroundings of the Candy Room. The black-and-white interiors look like a child’s artwork come to life, with bursts of color supplied by the shop’s wide selection of candy
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Candylawa
Panorama Mall, Takhassusi Street, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
candylawa.com
Pronounced “candy lover,” Candylawa is a cartoonlike wonderland of sweets. Created by Redesign Group, a New Zealand firm, the two-level store is divided into several sections, including stations for design-your-own lollipops or marshmallows and a French patisserie for parents—or kids—with a more sophisticated palate.
Miette Confiserie
449 Octavia Street, San Francisco
miette.com
At the Hayes Valley outpost of the popular San Francisco bakery Miette, candy is the star. Owner Meg Ray and her former husband, Christopher, who designed the shop, were inspired by old-world European patisseries when creating the sunny interiors.
Glass apothecary jars filled with licorices, caramels, and sour candies line the wood shelves or sit atop cake stands in the charming window display.
Papabubble
4-76-1 Aioi-Cho, Naka-ku Yokohama, Japan
papabubble.jp
Barcelona-based candymaker Papabubble’s Yokohama location looks like a cross between a mad scientist’s lab and a hip art gallery. Schemata Architects used concrete, glass, and black tile to give the store an industrial feel. Visitors can watch the artisans making the company’s Murano-glass-like hard candies though the windows that separate the kitchen from the retail space.
