Swedish candy craze comes to Boston store with crowds lining up for sweets
A candy shop in Boston's South End is making a massive splash on social media thanks to the popular Swedish candy it sells.
Bostonians and even out-of-state influencers have posted about Madeleine's Candy Shop on apps like TikTok and Instagram, garnering hundreds of thousands of views. On weekends, lines wrap around the block.
All over social media feeds
"I've seen it all across my social media," said South Boston resident Brian Bartolovich. "All these influencers telling you about how cool it is, how awesome it is."
For Madeline's Candy Shop owner, Madeleine Brason, the response has been overwhelming in the most magical way possible.
"The response has been beyond my wildest dreams," she said.
At just 29 years old, and after a life dedicated to STEM, Brason quit her corporate job and devoted herself to the science of sweets. At the time, her parents begged her not to do it.
"They were like, 'So do you have a business plan?' I said, 'I sure do,' and I went home and Googled what a business plan was," Brason said. "It felt natural to finally do something that I was passionate about."
Swedish candy craze
That passion was met with opportunism and immense foresight. For months, a Swedish candy called BUBS has been trending worldwide. It's gotten so popular Amazon and apps like TikTok have started selling premixed bags. And in New York City, a Swedish candy store called BonBon has become a tourist destination.
The most famous BUBS, including the Banana Caramel Ovals, Tutti Frutti Foam Diamonds and Licorice Skulls, are notoriously difficult and expensive to get your hands on.
"You have to fill out these FDA forms, I have a customs broker," Brason said about the process of getting the BUBS to her store. "I'm learning words that I never really thought that I would have to learn in my lifetime, but it's been fun."
Madeleine's is now the first place in Boston you can find them, right on the corner of Clarendon and Appleton streets.
"Over 2,000 pounds of candy, I estimated that would last the month," Brason said. "Gone in under a week."
But what makes them so desired?
"People are looking for the texture," she said. "It's more like a Tempur-Pedic mattress. And the sour coating, it's finer than the other sour gummy sugars."
Other candies from around the world
Madeleine's also has a wide variety of chocolate, sour candies, and prepackaged items from around the world. The origin of each product is labeled with a little flag and color coded based on candy type (sour, sweet, etc). Gummy eggs from Spain have unexpectedly become Madeleine's top selling item.
"When I opened the bag I said to myself, 'That's disgusting, no one's going to buy them," Brason said. "[They] sold out immediately."
And the highly-Instagramable interior of Madeleine's is doused in New England flair. Canned sardine paintings hang on striped wallpaper-covered walls, and fake hydrangeas sit in little wicker baskets.
"The fish is really supposed to be a nod to Scandinavian and New England fishing culture," Brason said.
Each bag of candy is sold with a pair of chopsticks; an international candy experience served with Boston soul is what's turned Madeleine's into a local and global sensation.
"All my friends are posting all their Instagram stories, Snapchat stories," said Bartolovich. "It's so whimsical, it makes you feel like you're a kid again in the candy store."
"I feel like it's really new," customer Emily Collins said. "There's nothing like this in Boston."
"Why I'm able to do the shop is because of the social media content that other people have been making," Brason said. "Thank you for changing my life."
