New York City Candy Stores A Look Back 

I grew up in the South Bronx, late 50's early 60's. My family never had a telephone. I remember when we had to call someone, we went to the candy store around the corner to use the payphones. 138 St between Willis Ave and Alexander Ave. Thank you for the memories!!!!

Oh the sweet sweet memories. The owner of my corner candy store would let me read all the comic books all the time. That was so nice of him. His name was Victor and I will never forget him!

My parents owned candy stores back in the 60's. They where all in Brooklyn in different neighbourhoods. How nostalgic. I remember the soda fountain, cards, (my mom maid a great egg cream soda), magazines, newspapers, candiesassemble Its a time long gone, but not forgotten. Thanks again.

Thanks you for this childhood memory. Made me forget today for a minute and enjoy looking back!!!

Great!!! A candy store to a boy was like a favorite bar to an adult. My favorite candy store was Maxi's on 20th avenue in Brooklyn. I hung out there in the 60s & 70s. You met your friends on a daily basis & argued who was better, the Mets or the Yankees. I bought my pretzel logs with a vanilla egg cream. You bought & traded or flipped baseball cards. One thing you left out along with Spalding & Pensi Pinky's, you purchased a stickball bat there. A magical time!

Our Candy Store was in the corner of Decatur Ave and Bedford Park Blvd. I loved going there for ice cream. 2 cents wxtra for sprinkles. Thanks for the memories!

I grew up in the 70s in Brooklyn and have wonderful memories of taking walks with my father to get the evening paper at the candy store. While we were there he would sometimes get an egg cream and I'd get either a candy bar, baseball cards or a comic book. There would always be somebody there that we knew and somebody to talk to. Its amazing how so many years have passed by yet I can still see that candy store so clearly in my mind. Oh, what I would give to have one more evening walk with my father.

My parents owned “Bill’s” candy store in East Flatbush thanks for telling the story they were owned by hardworking families in many cases that I can remember. One thing I remember my Dad used to give out prizes for high score in the shooting ducks game. Great memories.

There was a candy store on 238th st just east of Bailey Avenue. It was dark and dingy and only the elderly owner worked there. It had very old fashioned candy cases, that would today be considered beautiful. I went away for the summer and when I came back, it had been completely renovated by a new owner and it was bright, very modern and clean. They served lots of food items and we ate there often. But that particular one had a very small supply of comic books. They did have one circular rack of mass market paperbacks and I remember buying some of the James Bond books there. There was another candy store on 238th st and Broadway that's now a deli or bodega. I think it was called Murray's. They had a counter and served ice-cream but not food, but they had a tremendous selection of magazines. When I was 8 or 9 years old, I bought the second issue of "Famous Monsters of Filmland" there and Murray didn't want to sell it to me. He said, "your parents wouldn't want you spending money on that junk!", but I insisted and I bought it. I also remember him telling my mother that he was in deep financial trouble because he spend a fortune on greeting card inventory.

My neighborhood candy store was Eddie's at University Avenue and W 174th St in the Bronx. This video brought back A LOT of memories. In the 60s, you could buy four candy bars or boxed candies and a Bazooka bubble gum for a quarter. On late summer nights, my mother, sister and I would walk to the subway station on Jerome Avenue to meet my father coming home from work. Thanks for this video.

What a beautiful time in NY. Grew up in the early 70's. My favorite candy store was Stanley's in Rego Park Queens, but I knew of a dozen others.

..my Grandparents owned a candy store in the Bronx, N.Y...on east Tremont Avenue. R.I.P. Grandma and Grandpa. ..thank You for this video, Sir. amen.

Thanks for the great video! My father was the last owner of Carmine`s candy store located on Mayflower ave in the north east Bronx, Pelham Bay area. Some may remember the previous owners before 1960 who were Charlie and Mary. The store came to an end about 1965. There were several other candy stores in the area, kind of near ps 71. I remember Garbers at the corner of Hobart and Crosby ave. As you went up Crosby ave there were 4 more candy stores, a distance of about 2 miles. Like was said in this video there was a store every couple of blocks and the pretty much looked the same too. Thanks again..

My parents owned one in Queens, the store hours were 6:00 AM to 9:00 PM Mon-Sat and 6:00 to 3:00 on Sundays. The whole family had to kick in to run it. Even when I was 8 or 9 years old, my job was to maintain the stock of bottled and canned sodas in the fridges. Back then most of the bottles had a refund on them, so when I came home from school I had to carry the empty bottle returns into the basement, and on the way up carry the full bottles for the fridge. Also - We used to get credit from the Newspaper Distributors for the newspapers that didn't sell. We would return the cover page of the unsold papers for credit. I also had to carry the rest of the paper into the basement, where we would store it and then make a trip to the local junkyard ( the junkie as we used to call him ) with the paper. You can guess who carried the paper up and into the van. We used to end up getting about $12.00 per load. Eventually I got a paper route organized by the store, I delivered the Daily News , NY Times, Il Progresso, Die Staats Zeitung

...I grew up at 135 W 238th Street....just off Bailey Avenue....lived there from 1964-1976...and then moved @4-5 blocks away...so have never left the neighborhood. We had the infamous Snookie's which was opene from 1930s through @1970 at the same loacation....then moved @150' away through the 90s....Bailey Avnue. Furhter down 238th Street...heading towards Broadway we had Murray's, Max's and Mike's...and until @1968...all 3 "M"s worked every day....newspapers, egg creams, greeting cards, penny candy., school supplies.

Growing up in my Brooklyn neighborhood in the 60s, we had five within a few minutes walking distance of where I lived, and many more within 20 or 30 minutes- each one was known by the name of its owner- Mike's, Ernie's, Harry's, Tanny's and Frank's, were the ones closest to me. Some of them even offered full meals. Along with all the items mentioned in the video some of them also sold model car kits, the building of which I took up when I was 9 years old in 1967. Overall they were just great cozy places to escape to when I needed to get away for a while from my fucked up family- thank you very much for this wonderful trip back in time...

I LOVE THIS so much! Gives great context to all the old photos and video that is available. It was the connection of business owner and neighborhood that was so important; and so lacking in 2021. The sense of community.

Our store was called Sam's. Walk in on the right side were the cases of candy. Walk towards the back of the store was the fountain drinks. On the left side of the store were the magazines and on the top shelves were the porm magazines. Just the way it was. Miss that time.

I love this, some of the best memories growing up in the Bronx

This is wonderfully nostalgic! Thank you so much!

This is a fabulous trip down memory lane! Thank you!

In Our Lady Of Refuge Parish , in the Bronx, on Briggs Ave. Carries and Larry's was the spot, for the best 1cent candies, and for egg creams, and just to meet up with someone, and then take a walk eating your candy bars. Grew up in the 50's, born in 1949, so 50's and 60's were my candy store days. A lot of my little change went to that store

Kevin ONeill Loved going around the corner to Moes candy store in Inwood to get an egg cream and a pretzel. Great times

They gave out free cigar boxes if you asked, which were wonderful for all sorts of uses.

I loved seeing those old candy store signs. Brooklyn was full of them; we had one right on the corner of our street and it was great!🤫

We had a candy store/soda fountain shop (and plenty Bodegas) on Allerton Ave in the late 80s/early 90s. My dad got me an egg cream there. Thanks for this video. It brought back some good memories of my old Bronx neighborhood. I lived at 630 Mace Ave and walked Allerton Ave nearly every day. In fact, this summer I built a mini Bodega in my Garage and filled it with drinks, comics and tons of Candy so my kids could experience the joy of a place like that growing up like I did. You might leave New York, but it never leaves you 😂 Thanks for taking me back.

Brings back memories of the Bronx! I love hearing the great milk confection, known as a malted, but correctly pronounced “mawltid” by us natives!

I grow up on 7th St BTW Ave C&D Corner of East River. In Front of us was a Candy Store name Rosey's. I and Friends bought items every week. I remember the penny candy's and 5cent Cookies. Good memories.1972

What a great and thorough trip down memory lane. You covered just about everything except for the soft pretzels sold fresh each day. I remember them being stacked on a verticle stick and selling for 5 cents each. Again, what a terrific video! Even the narrator has that great NYC accent.

Nice video! I could always scrap together $0.05 for Bazooka gum, all I needed was a quart bottle....

72nd St & Elliot Ave Queens ... I can still smell the candy, cigars & magazines ... Born & live in Colorado but my summers in the 60s were with extended family & NYC wonderful!

Great memories of Elsey and Leo's candy store. 17th Ave and 66th street Bensonhurst Brooklyn, near Benson bagels. So much is true down to "this is not a library" to the owner being a bookie. Thx

One other thing: many candy store owners were also Notary Publics, so you could get documents notarized when necessary.

We had two candy stores in my immediate neighborhood in Park Slope Brooklyn - neither had a counter nor served food or fountain treats. Other items mentioned in the film rang true for me. We went to the soda fountain or the luncheonette for counter service or sit down eating.

Born in 76 left for college in 95. Went to the candy store primarily for comics. Sometimes for the paper. The adults in my life played numbers, but that's a different story! 😆

Pete's on 47th Ave., Flushing, NY growing up, but when I was really small, my grandmother owned a candy store in Ridgewood, Queens. Loved chocolate sodas and egg-cream!

I don't know the official name of our candy store, we just called it Benny's. It was on Hopkinson Avenue near Pitkin, across the street from my home. I remember the wooden floors, the glass showcases of candy, the comic book rack, and Benny. He'd start singing "Barney Google", my name is Bonnie. I loved "splurging on the 2cent chocolate pieces, Ice Cubes, I think they were called. Fast forward to 1964.......I was 14. My future husband was working in the candy store we passed every day on the way to JHS 149, on Sutter Avenue, near Miller? I don't know the name of that candy store either, we just called it Joe's, as he was the owner(?). I would go there after school as well, my parents liked the ice cream they served, so I would have to get for them, a half-pint of coffee, and in the same paper carton, a half-pint of cherry vanilla. The boy working there must have thought I was a glutton, always buying this much ice cream. Well, 53 years later, we are still together, but this time, we are the ones that share the pints of ice cream. Thanks for the video.....the kids today have no idea what they missed out on...............

Thanks for posting this. These little candy stores were a New York institution. Most of them were TINY with maybe 2 or 3 swivel stools and there were LOTS of them. The one I mostly went to was Rosie's on the Lower East Side, she'd sell 2 or 3 cigarettes at a time, penny candy and of course newspapers and comic books and egg creams. "Spaldeens". There was always something that a kid could afford, along with baseball cards. My father used to talk about getting a 2 cent plain which was just seltzer water from the tap in those little coca cola glasses, you know the ones. I don't think many of these are left, one being Gem's Spa on St. Marks which was also pictured here in the 1960's, I swear one of the guys hanging out out front in the picture looks just like my friend Walter.

I use to love the long stick pretzels

From 1950 to 1966 we lived in an apartment situated directly above a candy store. "Fink's" candy store was on the corner of 54th street & 6th Ave in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. It was, as you described, central to the neighborhood. Kids, teens and adults would always be seen in and around the store. The owner and his wife were really nice people, they would let me read the monster magazines and comic books. One problem that we had because of the sweets in the store was roaches, I'd have to check my shoes before putting them on in the morning. After we moved away, the store became a laundromat, later to be converted into an apartment.

Candy stores were popular out on Long Island too. Virtually every town had at least one. In Wantagh, Nassau County, our town had at least three, with the "coolest" one being Al's on Merrick Road. How, or why, Al made any money while allowing us teenagers to hang around all of the time is beyond me.

Some of the pics in the film were of Abe Zimmerman s store on allerton and olinville in the bx

Thank you for those early photos. I grew up in Long Island city in the 1950s. Remember all those things that you brought out our candy store was called the raven because I lived in the projects called Ravenswood and many fond memories of going up there with my dad and getting the newspaper in the evening during the summer, and of course buy my favorite candies pretzels and something called a walk away Sunday. You may know what that is.

8 Times a year I rushed to get the new "Mad Magazine". Also, to this day, I've never had a chocolate malted like the ones at the candy store. We called a Spalding...a spaldine (with our NYC accents). Every kid had one of the two balls in our pocket (Other being Pensy Pinky) and we could play at least 25 different games with them. Stick Ball, Box Ball, Hit the Penny, Box Baseball, Stoopball......the list goes on!

Loved your documentary!! We had a few real nice candy stores here in Bayside, Queens. If I knew how much some of those comic books go for now I would have bought them all up!! And just for the heck of it several months ago I checked on ebay and found that CANDY CIGARETTES are still being made and sold! I couldn't believe it, in this day and age when they are cancelling everything the least bit controversial. Oh and I remember a giant Three Musketeers candy bar went for 20 cents at Murray's Stationery store on 32nd avenue in 1973.

Pepsi didn't sell till 1965, we had egg creams, coke or orange crush. We had Nick's in Flushing then it was Vera's, I worked there, such a good time. My breakfast every morning before school was egg cream and a buttered roll, miss those days. God Bless all

RG thank you so much! Our comic book connections were in a drug store and a candy store, but that was the 1960s. My grandfather operated one in Atlantic City in the 1930s that I have always been curious about and this helps!

I grew up in the early seventies and my candy store was Garbers in the Bronx. Bazooka gum was a penny, baseball cards and whacky packages were .20 cents a pack and comics were .20 cents as well. I wanted every Aurora glow in the dark monster model in those square boxes and when I had enough saved I'd go and get a new one, $2.49 if I remember right but the best part of going to Garbers was sitting up on the stool and getting an egg cream and pulling out a long pretzel. I so do miss those days, thought they would last forever.

This brings back fond memories of when I was a kid growing up in Williamsburg Brooklyn and going to "Sid's" in the 60's and 70's with my mother Rose and my aunt Anna and usually getting a tuna melt with an egg cream. Those were the days as we say.

Our candy store in Woodside, Queens was Willies..My mom would send me around the corner for a pack of Chesterfield King.They had Breyers ice cream at the fountain, penny candy and a coca-cola cooler with green glass bottles of coke on ice..plunging your arm into the ice water on a hot summer day was like heaven.

I can remember the soda fountains, the candy stands, and the magazine racks, I loved the comic books when I didn't have the money to buy them, after mowing a few lawns I'd head back to the candy store and load up on candy and comic books, lol. Thanks so much for refreshing our memories.

Art's Candy Store on the corner of 13th Ave and 40th Street in Borough Park, Brooklyn. Art was great and knew everyone in the neighborhood. And of course, the pickle store was across the street!

Wow, I see good ole Gems Spa there at 1:57! Corner of 2nd Ave & St Mark’s (8th St)...we’d head there from all over the city in the late 60s to get “hip” periodicals like Rolling Stone, Village Voice it Down Beat, especially before continuing to Fillmore East. Solid egg cream I might add. My favorite early 60s candy store was Moe’d on Amsterdam btwn 165th-166th. He got all Marvel comics before other stores, and had the best candy selection. Wonderful days, thanks for creating this lovely documentation.

In the late 1920s, early 1930s, my maternal grandmother owned one! On 4th Ave in Brooklyn, in the Park Slope area. It was a small one, no luncheonette or fountain.

As a small kid there was Cheep Charlies on Bay Parkway off 65th st in Bklyn but one of the last hold outs was a great family and wonderful Husband and wife team @ Hobbyland where toys were sold as well on 20th ave 63rd.

Michael's on Hillside Ave. in Queens Village. I used to work there. Ah the good old days.

Excellent short documentary! Thank you

I Remember My favorite candy store, Mike's, It Was Mike & Dotties On Mermaid Avenue In Coney Island. I have so many great memories from there.I Loved My Egg Creams They made Me, And All The Other great Things I Got There. I Miss Those Stores.

What a great video. Brings back some great memories.l My father had a candy tore in the Bronx in the 60's. Me and my brothers worked there. It was a big hangout for all our friends. We actually turned it into a candy store and Luncheonette. It was some of the greatest times growing up

Video brings back many fond memories of the neighborhood candy stores from the 50's & 60's even the 70;s when you went back to the old neighborhood Thanks

We lived on Mohegan Avenue, and 180th Street, my Uncle owned a "candy store/Luncheonette, called George's Luncheonette, this was late 40's to the mid 50'ls, great memories, Uncle George also had a Juke Box, and terrific food. RIP Uncle George and Aunt Sally.... Thanks for the memories....

Anyone who had the Candy store experience knows how it mean't a social place for young people. You could get a hot dog hamburger ice cream cones banana split penny candy. You would sit at the soda fountain malteds coke egg cream coc or vanilla. We had Petes Cany store in Williamsburg directly accross from St. Marys Convent on Leonard St. Another candy store was Thomas Candy Store on Calyer and Eckford St. He was a nice man but my favorite memories are from Pete's . We were respectful and if not you couldn't come back unless you came with a parent mostly we were on our best behavior because we lived hanging out and watching the older kids play the Jute Box with all the new songs by Connie Francis Toni Bennett and so on. We grew up do different then today. They don't know what they missed. It was grand.

I remember the Irish Echo being sold in a local Candy store...

my Russian grandpa had a corner candy store in Irvington, New Jersey. He kept a couple barrels of whole dill pickles near the entrance. When we visited we'd get a pickle and milk shake of choice.

I grew up on Allerton ave in the Northeast Bronx and we had Abe& Sally's and also Zimmerman's what great memories

Our candy store was located in the South Bronx. We lived on Teasdale Place - 3rd Avenue. Our candy store on the corner sold pickled pig feet in a large glass jar for 5 cents. Thank you for the memories.

I grew up in Brooklyn NYC, The turbulent 1960s, I was a fat kid and when my mom gave me a nickel I ran around the corner to the candy store and I was in heaven… I remember Hershey’s ice cream strawberry chocolate vanilla on a waffle serve between two waffles… I remember a chocolate water served at the candy store fountain counter, for a nickel, I went home and play with my G.I. Joe doll, I mean action figure… still looking to purchase a vintage G.I. Joe lunchbox from the 60s, Proud and lucky US Air Force veteran.

As a kid in the early 60's, I lived in the apartment building across the street from Murray's candy store on the corner of 16th Ave. and 39th street. I'd buy baseball cards, bubble gum, school supplies, egg creams, ice cream, the newspaper for my dad (The Forward, in Yiddish), and bottled grape sodas I'd pull out from the ice filled metal container they kept at the front of the store. Those were the days.

I remember them dearly, and miss them sorely. They were every few blocks away, and always had some little thing different. I remember the two in my neighborhood in Brooklyn, on the corner of Rockaway Parkway and Glenwood Road, and the other on Flatlands Ave and Rockaway Parkway. I sure do miss them. Thanks for the vid, and the memories.

Kappy's at the corner of Gun Hill & White Plains. Rd. ... He sold it in the 60's and it became Evander Sweet Shop. I worked for Kappy as a young boy in the early 60's .... Great memories of the day.

My Family owned three similar stores in Vailsburg, Newark and Irvington NJ. Your film was very very familiar to what we had. We also had pinball machine in each location. Thanks for wonderful memories. Ones our children will never know

OMG...this is a great stroll down memory lane. I forgot all about seltest ice cream and Bohack. My grandparents would take me to candy stores for chocolate egg creme fountain drinks in the summer. I miss those candy stores so much.

Amazing documentary. Thank you! I remember Nelson's Candy Store at the corner of Bryant and Seneca Avenues in Hunts Point, the Bronx.

Great memories . Thank you for posting this .

Great video! Brought back a lot of memories. My favorite candy store in the late 1960s was "Minnie's" at 374 Metropolitan Avenue - Brooklyn, NY. Anyone else remember it?

Loved those candy cigarettes! Thanks for the great memories

Mr. Pease was the owner of the candy store on Glenwood Road and Albany Avenue. One thing not mentioned here - and one important ingredient in my life - was the song book. This was a magazine that listed the lyrics of all the most popular songs of the day, So while I listened to WNEW on the radio, I could listen to records of the "big bands" and sing along with Frank and Ella, Tony and Rosemary, and all the top singers of the day.

I wish my mom was still here

what a fabulous piece ou put together. So nostalgic. I loved Louies on Tryon Ave. On rainy days when it was too far to walk home, I could get a hamburger for lunch there.

Excellent! Love it! I always ordered a black and white ice cream soda. Ours also made a "half and half". Toasted english muffin that was half tuna and half egg salad. Good old days indeed.

great stuff....my candy store Zimmerman's on Allerton ave the Bronx is in the video at 1 min mark and several times after...abe made great egg creams

Sol and Lefty's, 249th Street and Union Tpke in Queens. Spent the 70s in there, buying candy. The only time I got to sit at the counter was when my mom wanted an egg cream.

Evander Sweet Shop, Gunhill Rd at White Plains Rd, under the Third Avenue El if memory serves. And I used to (very occasionally) go to a candy Store up on Burke Ave to get my dad a cigar. Never did sit at the counter...sigh 😊

My parents owned a candy store in the 70s it was an old school coca-cola bottle caps on either side above the store. Long soda fountain,tons of candy and pennies candy and pretty much everything else described in this video, however it being the 1970s and the advent of the video games /pinball generation. We had a game room in the back of the store that became the neighborhood hangout. I was 10 and would work at the counter at times to give my mother or father a break for a little while was an experience I'll never forget . My parents didn't enjoy the experience as much because the store was opened 530 am till 10 pm 7 days a week it took a toll the revenue wasn't good enough to be worth all the hours .

Our candy store was on the corner of 66th Street and 15th Avenue in Brooklyn. We called it Tony the Candy Store. He had everything the video mentions and it was the only place you could get a charlotte reusse and a Clincher.

That was awesome !!! We claimed Pizzi's in Mount Vernon as our store. One block past Sanford Blvd. If you crossed the street you were in The Bronx where all of us lived. I lived on Monticello Ave. My cousin once grabbed a $5.00 bill from his dad's wallet and we spent the entire day at Pizzi's. When we left we still had almost $3.00. We couldn't even spend it all. We couldn't go home with that kind of loot so we placed it around my house under the hedges and by the garbage cans and pretended we found money. First a $1.00 bill then two quarters and so on. We even let my little brother Danny find and keep a dime and a nickel. My dad came out and said "come on, where did you really get the money". Guess he didn't believe us. Man those were the greatest times of my life. Thanks for this.

I remember SANDERS CANDY STORE in Long Island City, NY at 45th Rd. Court House Square back in the 50s and early 60s. It was a long time ago, but it seems like last night. The store may still be there, but only the Sanders Brothers knew how to run it. 10/3/22.

Herzogs at the corner of Ocean View Avenue and Brighton 11th Street in the 1930's and '40's. Most embarrassing moment was when I got caught swiping a licorice candy when I was about 5 years old! Stopped my crime spree in its tracks!

My Grandparents had a Candy Store & used Diamond Brand Syrup 17th Ave. between 83rd&84th!🇮🇹🌷❤️

Loved this! The candy store near me was on Brighton 10th street and Coney Island Ave. It was called "Mermi's" and we had egg creams there. My last name is "Diamond" and my dad had a jewelry store--Diamond Jewelers---right across from Mermi's!!! AH, THE MEMORIES!

Our neighborhood candy store/luncheonette was Chappy's on Lincoln Road between Flatbush and Ocean Avenues. The BMT D train was just outside the candy store. It was an favorite neighborhood store and the Egg Creams were awesome.

Growing up in Brooklyn and Queens, everyone knew where to go for a candy store, deli, pizzeria, and drug store. There were no corporate anything in those days.

Thanx for stirring up some fond memories

Spent many days in Harry's Candy Store on 31st street, across from Carvel in Astoria Queens. He always called my friends and I " Bums ". Great memories.

Grew up on Audubon Ave, in Washington Heights, NYC.(1946-58) Our corner Candy Store was Barnett's on 186th and Audubon. I loved getting the penny candies, And the Egg Creams when we had the money for that! Good memories.

Terrific.....I'm from Rochester, & lived in Ohio & Michigan in the 50's & 60's when I collected baseball cards, comics , & loved these neighborhood stores......candy bars, bubble gum, s oda pop.....I'm afraid most of them reside only in our memories their brick & mortar gone.....D.

Pure nostalgia. And I love it. Thank you.

Loved this, great job. Thanks

This brings back so many memories. We used to go to one on Westchester and St. Lawrence Aves. I remember sitting at the counter and getting a coke or a chocolate egg cream and a hard pretzel stick or a soft pretzel. We bought so many things there, from silly putty, to greeting cards to actual candy. I bought my first record there a 45 of I think July Collins’ Both Sides Now.

Great video chief, thanks for shareing👍