The Sweetest Gift: Candylabs Cutest Sucking Candies

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The little jars catch my eye first. Walking on Rue Guy, I pass a store window with gift-sized jars full of colorful, beadlike candies. Inside, the cute continues with a black and white painted storefront on the wall and adorable drawings on a chalkboard depicting the candy making process. Every shelf is lined with jars and test tubes, while one wall holds bags with elegant Willy-Wonka-like swirly lollipops. Open just October 18, Candylabs is not only the newest, but probably the cutest candy store in all of Montreal.

When I walk in, co-owner and candy maker May He offers me a choice: sour or sweet. I pick sweet and she places an orange nub in my hand with the letters JEU on it (for Jeudi, I soon find out). I pop it in my mouth and am met with a burst of mango flavour. “Can I try another?” I ask. I am delighted to find that each colour has a different tingly sweet flavour.

The fun is not just the flavour or beautiful colours, but also the fact that each candy has its own design: a watermelon, a smiley face, words like Hope, or a panda.

 

“Everything is possible,” co-owner Lin Geng says as he places small handfuls of candy into jars. I ask him if he can do faces. “You need a distinct face probably,” he says. “We can make the band Kiss. Their faces are distinct.”

 

May chimes in with a list of places that they can make their custom candies for, “We can do designs for weddings, baby showers, store logos.” In short, they can pretty much do candy-anything.

This kind of flexibility is possible because May and Lin make the candy themselves in the store every day at 1:30 p.m. They even have a menu saying what flavours and designs they plan to make each day.

The candy I sampled — the candy for each day of the week — was suggested by a customer on their facebook page who wanted a jar of candies with a different flavour for each day of the week along with a label for each day.

Currently, they offer 36 flavours, and are planning to offer more. “We have basic fruits, coffee, lavender, cappuccino, maple, lemon, coconut,” says May.

Lin and May learned how to make the candies in Australia after a friend returned from a trip abroad. They looked in Canada and then the United States for these distinct treats and couldn’t find them. “There was one store in New York,” says Lin. They imported the equipment from Australia and opened their own store in Montreal.

“We’re the only people in Canada doing this right now,” says May. Note that the two of them are young entrepreneurs. May is 26 and Lim just 24.

“My parents were against it,” laughs Lim. “I studied accounting and they wanted me to work at a bank. ‘Why work at a candy store?’ they asked me.”

“I get to do something different each day,” he continues. “No matter what your mood is before, you have a piece of candy and feel happier.”

With the holiday season around the corner, candylabs candies make fantastic gifts and stocking stuffers. The jars range in price depending on size (the smallest ones are $3.50). Lollipops start at $3.75. Custom orders for your own designs can be found HERE. Candylabs is located at 2305 Guy. Their hours are 11 a.m. – 7 p.m. Sunday to Wednesday, 11 a.m. – 9 p.m. Thursday to Saturday.