The mood is giddy two week before Halloween atEconomy Candyon New York City ’s Lower East Side . The place is a sum throwback , with its printed cannister ceiling and wall describe with old - timey memorabilia , but the horde of animated children do n’t seem to notice . Candy never belong out of fashion . The air smell clearly of sugar and appears to have give birth a potent contact high to these kid , who wildly zig and zag through the stock ’s towering metal wheel like they ’re in an entertainment park . I imagine their schoolchild are down to pin pricks .
Not that I find fault them . There are more than 2,000 variety of confect here . The shelf reach up more than midway to the nearly 20ft - mellow ceiling and overflow with chunky Payday bars , deep red - imbue Red Vines , and milky wax bottles filled with saccharine Ne liquid . There are fudgy Oh Henry ! bar and chewy Now & Laters , hidden Abba - Zaba ginmill screen with creamy peanut butter woof , and knotty Turkish Taffy that implores you to “ smell it ” and “ crack it . ” There are novelty candy like bacon - flavored Pop Rocks , imported Israeli Elite cocoa bar , Jolt caffeinated mucilage , and more than a twelve unlike Pez dispensers . It ’s a dizzying sight , and not even adults are immune . I just turned 30 and I can barely stop myself from breaking every parent ’s candy store rules and reaching elbows late into a display of Baby Ruths to shovel them all towards me .
Mitchell Cohen runs the show these days , having taken over the rein from parents Jerry and Ilene in 2013 . Mitchell is a boylike 31 , and when I see him one Monday first light in mid - October , he ’s uniformed in a powder - downcast Economy Candy shirt like the respite of the harried staff , manifestly at dwelling house pacing at a fast cartridge clip between young client . It ’s not even yet the store ’s busy time of class . That ’s the day before Halloween and the holiday itself , the apogee of a astounding holiday season during which Cohen will deal a minimum of 20,000lbs of mixed confect and burnt umber . To help out with the upsurge today , Jerry has emerged from semi - retreat to man the register .
Cole Saladino/Thrillist
“ We ’ve been prepping for two months , ” a breathless Mitchell told me over the earpiece days originally . “ It really picks up the two weeks before Halloween – we ’ll sell 1,000 5 lb bags of miscellaneous deep brown [ for $ 18 each ] and 1,000 8 lb bags of assorted old - fashioned candy [ for $ 20 each ] ” on top of regular business . He clearly revels in the pandemonium . A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania ’s Wharton School , Mitchell did n’t hesitate to abandon a vocation in investment banking when the family business beckon . That was the architectural plan all along . In previous decades , the surrounding neighbourhood was home to as many as 10 alike confect stores . But urban decay in the 1980s labor many away , while others were bought out in the 1990s and early 2000s when the arena gentrified and turn over into restaurants and bar .
“ We ’re really the only one go away , ” sound out Mitchell , who credit the store ’s longevity to a identification number of cistron , ranging from long - standing relationships with customers to the great power of television . ( The workshop was prominently featured on the Food web programUnwrapped . ) But perhaps the biggest reason is its unrivaled selection .
" We ’re the only place that haseverything , " he tell . " If they still make it , we have it . "
Cole Saladino/Thrillist
Now the lone holdout , Economy Candy ’s Book of Genesis is the stuff of Lower East Side lore : Founded by Mitchell ’s grandpa , Morris Cohen , Economy Candy start as Economy Shoes in 1937 . Morris peddled candy over the counter as a side hustle , but with the state in the throe of the Great Depression , wallet - friendly confect sold well than shoes . Morris soon toss the business model and the rest is story . For half a C before his retreat in 1985 , Morris held court over the storefront ’s outdoor candy display , even in the depths of wintertime . “ He used to be outside selling in a fur chapeau and big coat ! ” Mitchell recalled . And how did a life of this – not to note unchecked candy wasting disease – affect him ? “ He passed away just last year , ” Mitchell said . “ He was 97 . ”
Economy Candy is execute in much the same way as it was when Mitchell ’s parent and grandfather were in boot . Mitchell makes a gunpoint to stock erstwhile , vintage candies – “ everything from Abba - Zaba to Zagnut ” and “ all the old stuff and nonsense that people do n’t realize is still made ” – and keep the prices down . Way down . As they ’ve done for yr , the front windows house a sprawling show of self - scooped “ Pick N ’ Mix ” candies – call up peanut butter - and - molasses Mary Jane mastication , nutty Joyva Sesame Honey Crunch candy , Jolly Ranchers , Tootsie Rolls , and so on – on sales agreement for just $ 2.99 / pound . That ’s a moderately big price dispute from big - business candy stores like Dylan ’s Candy Bar , where half a Cypriot pound of Dum Dums can carry you $ 10 . catch are still weighed on a vintage hanging scurf that ’s been with the storage since the fifties “ and is still pretty billet - on . ”
So how does Mitchell keep the stock-taking tatty ? “ I ’d rather buy a lot of candy for a little than a small confect for a peck , ” he enjoin . It helps , too , that Mitchell inherited a rich electronic internet of suppliers . “ It ’s the family business sector , ” he stressed again and again . “ They remember corrupt from my grandpa and father . We buy verbatim [ from some of them ] give-up the ghost back 50 , 60 , 80 years . You have to have these relationship . ” In all , Economy Candy sources from as many as 100 suppliers at a clip , many of whom Mitchell met at candy trade shows he attended as a kid with his parents . Does he have a ledger with their name to keep them all straight ? “ It ’s all in my head , ” he aver .
Cole Saladino/Thrillist
Though the long - stand retail fix remains his master focusing , Mitchell suppose the line also sells a bully business deal of confect through itswebsite , shipping out between 20 to 50 packages day by day and up to 100 per solar day during the holidays . On the site , you could even denounce for dainty by their color – a nice perk since so many issue , like wedding party and bar mitzvahs , have a colour base .
This Halloween will go much as it has in years by at Economy Candy . After selling sugary goodies give over clenched fist in the run - up to the vacation , Mitchell will give out pounds to play tricks - or - treaters for complimentary . It ’s been a custom for as long as he can think of .
“ It ’s a shift region , ” Mitchell concede , but one thing always stay the same : mass love confect . “ We wind up consume line of business all around the block , ” he said .
Cole Saladino/Thrillist
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