Candy
We Went to NYC's Viral Candy Store. Here are Our Thoughts.
We put Swedish candy store BonBon's virality to the test.
As a part of our ongoing Snack Shop video and editorial series, Content Intern Annie Arriaga investigates the latest and greatest viral snack shops in New York City to see if the hype is real, if the snacks are yummy, and if the spot is underrated, overrated, or perfectly rated.
In New York City, Swedish candy store BonBon has taken the city—and its many, many chronically online residents—by storm. Candy and all things sugary are all the rage onTikTok, from #watertok to #candysalad, sour Nerds Gummy Clusters to a $5-a-piece Swedish imported morsel, eating sweet treats (and filming yourself doing it) are definitely in style.
The Swedish candy store opened its first location in the Lower East Side back in 2018, founded by Swedish immigrants who wanted to bring all the sweet, sour, and salty confections of their home country to New York City. It was all good and normal until the spring of 2024 when lines began to form outside the pink candy store in the late hours of the night (the store is open until midnight) and so did the hype. People began filming and posting videos of their BonBon experiences and becoming Swedish candy experts. Apart from their brick-and-mortar locations, they also ship their candy all over the U.S.—good news for all those who want to post a BonBon candy haul but aren’t near the Big Apple.
The #BonBon tag has over 240,000 posts and the #swedishcandy tag has over 15,000 posts on TikTok. Some #tastetest style videos, where creators film themselves tasting and reviewing BonBon’s delicious treats, garner up to 7.8 million views. These numbers translate into real-time business for BonBon, whose store often runs out of best selling items on weekends. I have a sweet tooth and I love all things sugar— but I was hesitant to make the trip to BonBon in fear of waiting in line for longer than 30 minutes during a heat wave. Aside from their locations in the Lower East Side, Williamsburg, and the Upper East Side, the confectionery brand opened up their Red Hook warehouse space to the public in March.
Curious about their newest location, I journeyed to Red Hook to satisfy my sweet tooth and investigate the sugar-rushed hype.
The BonBon warehouse screams candy oasis as you walk up the industrial street: swooping, cursive letters line the top of the warehouse, and their big shuttered door is painted a baby pink, plastered with one of their catchy slogans: “Growing Up Is A Trap.” As I approached, toddler girls in pigtails and light-up sneakers holding their parents' hands squealed in excitement alongside groups of mid20s yuppie men in khakis and polos as they eagerly ran up to the carts of candy. It seems that the BonBon phenomenon transcends generations.
Viral or not, the place is magical (even during a heat wave). The interior is decorated in the cheery logo, posters of Swedish fish swimming, and the big carts of candies that come in all shapes, sizes, and colors. Based on my TikTok research, I knew that I was looking for sour skulls, black licorice, and marshmallows— I got to scooping. Black licorice is a source of contention between many American candy lovers and Swedish candy aficionados. It’s a classic Scandinavian treat made using sugar, starch, wheat flour, dried licorice root extract, and salmiak powder (which is what makes it salty), according to Vice. Yes, you read that right, it’s salty candy. As I scooped black licorice into my personal pink baggy, I pondered the possibility of buying a water bottle nearby in case I found it revolting.
If you’ve seen the TikToks, you’ve also seen the price tags: some people pay upwards of $30 for a trip to BonBon. They charge you by weight, and luckily, since I got around 10 pieces of candy, my total was just under $10. I took a seat at their outdoor benches and got to sampling.
I got my hands on the pink and blue fizzy sugar skull (which I’ve seen featured in many, many videos), which struck a good balance of chewy, sour, and sweet. This wasn’t my personal fav but it’s nice to chomp on a candy that is perfectly chewy and doesn't taste like plastic and red40.
It gets tricky when we start talking about the marshmallows. Their classic vanilla marshmallow was delightful, fluffy and packed with subtle flavor, as a marshmallow should be. Their banana marshmallow, which is both shaped and colored like the yellow fruit, tasted like the typical banana extract Laffy Taffy slap-in-your-face flavor but the texture was, well, completely different than I expected: Chewier, stretchier, and softer (in a bad way).
Despite my skepticism, both the BonBon shop itself and the candy were delightful and tasty. The viral videos definitely live up to the hype, but there’s still absolutely no way I would ever wait in line longer than 15 minutes nor pay more than $15 for a bag of the Swedish goodies. And so: I declare that BonBon is a perfectly rated snack shop.
If you’re reading this and you have a suggestion for a Snack Shop in the city that I must visit and (honestly) rate, leave a comment here or on our Snack Shop TikTok video. I love suggestions!
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