5 Best Old-Timey Candy Stores In NYC

We dare you to walk into this candy store on the Lower East Side and not be cast immediately back to your childhood, regardless of whether you grew up in the 1930s, 1950s, 1970s, or 1990s. The difference? Now that you're an adult, you can eat as much as you want. Perhaps the best stocked store in town, Economy Candy sells all the brands of your youth from shelves that stretch as high as the eye can see. Suckers, gum, Pez dispensers, hard candies, jelly beans, etc., etc. A browser's paradise, open since 1937.

A lot things about Staten Island seem stuck in time (in a good way), including Philip's Candy. In 2001, the original Philip's was forced to close. So the proprietor moved from Coney Island to Staten Island, and viola: you can still get your sweet fix near the sea. Available treats include popcorn, cotton candy, lollipops, rice crispy pops, and cake pops. The backstory is especially sweet: the longtime owner began working in the store as a teenager, and met his wife at a milk stand nearby.

Schmidt's Candy has been around since 1925. Today, it's run by the founder's granddaughter, who still uses grandpa's Old World recipes to make delights like finger crackers, cremes, marshmallows, and jellies. If you ask nicely, she'll tell you about her family's past and share her memories of Queens. And maybe she'll offer a sample or two (she once told New York magazine that she can "judge what type of chocolate someone wants just by looking at them"). Custom baskets and packages are available too.

This bulk candy store on the Lower East Side offers an array of sweet things that belie the small space, as the store has done since opening in 1982. Among the treats available for noshing are jelly beans, licorice, gummies, hard candies, and gum drops, much of it displayed in apothecary jars. But the big draw here, for us anyway, are the chocolates. We can't get enough of the softy pops (marshmallows on sticks [pictured]), the caramels, the truffles, and so many other goodies made fresh every day.

Williams Candy had us at its website: candytreats.com. Then again, wandering the aisles to espy the stock tends to trump ordering sweet stuff online, at least in our book. So we often head to this store, which has been in business for 75+ years, next door to Nathan's Famous in Coney Island. This spot makes a ton of treats fresh daily from family recipes, including caramel marshmallow sticks, fudge, and candy apples (pictured). The candy apple with nuts and coconut haunts our dreams.