Image: Trevor Nichols
If you’ve been searching for a place to buy some bacon-and-cheese-flavoured crickets in Kelowna, a newly opened Bernard Avenue shop has you covered.
So Sweet, the colourful candy store that recently expanded to Kelowna, also carries a selection of worm-filled lollipops, super-sour jawbreakers, and even sweets that taste like poison.
Rachel Manning, the director of operations at So Sweet, says the store tries to carry items you don’t normally see in candy aisles.
That means, along with some very strange novelty candy, the store also sells a ton of old-school candy, imported candy, and some of the more fringe flavours (chocolate Mentos, anyone?).
“We’re a candy store, but we’re kind of a mix of a Spencer’s Gifts as well,” Manning explains. “We’re very fringe.”
So Sweet only recently expanded to Kelowna, but has been operating in Penticton for more than a year.
Owner Rene Carloni, who also owns a chain of payday loan centres, got the idea for the store when he visited Las Vegas a few years ago.
While strolling through Sin City, several unique candy shops caught his eye.
Image: Trevor Nichols
He was charmed by the novelties and interesting candy selections they featured, and wondered why he couldn’t find anything like it in his hometown.
So when he got back to Penticton he decided to try it himself. That attempt was the original So Sweet, which opened on Main Street last year.
At first, the store sold only candy–essentially whatever Carloni thought was cool–but before long it expanded into novelty items like funky socks, old-school lunch boxes, and soaps.
Manning said So Sweet’s Penticton customers responded well to the expanded collection, so they continued bringing in more of it.
“There were all these gift stores, but they’re…” she paused, and lowered her voice slightly, “like your grandma’s gift store.”
“The thing about us is we’re not your grandma’s gift store. We’ve got different options outside of that,” she said.
At So Sweet’s new Bernard Avenue location, Manning beamed at the metres-long “sock wall,” where dozens of colorful, novelty socks hung.
She said she tries to bring in unique items that will put a smile on people’s faces. Her favourite part of her job, she says, is watching people when they first walk in.
Image: Trevor Nichols
“I get to see the reactions that everyone has when they come into the store–and that has been really that much more motivating to do that much more with So Sweet,” she said.
Manning also runs Carloni’s 12 Venue Financial offices, which can be a serious and sometimes difficult job.
She says that, as much as people appreciate financial services, there’s nothing quite like watching people walk into a candy store
“It’s so much fun here. People are basically always excited to come in,” she said, adding that most of her customers aren’t kids, but 25-to-35-year-olds who stop in for a hit of nostalgia, or some funky stocking stuffers.
So Sweet’s Kelowna shop is located at 287B Bernard Ave. For more information visit the shop online.
Image: Trevor Nichols
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