Economy Candy

About this listing

Old fashioned candy shop offering local and world-wide favorites

Place Details

Place Matters Profile

It's an old tenement storefront on the Lower East Side; the kind of place that doesn't exactly beckon you in from the street. But enter, and you'll feel right at home. Candies you never thought you would see again. Prices you imagined had disappeared. And sales help who ask if they can help you. You've found Economy Candy, where locals have bought their sweets for over 50 years.

The store has something for everyone. Amidst the counters of hand-dipped chocolate, barrels of nuts, shelves piled nearly to the ceiling with chocolates and candy, bins full of penny candy, a gourmet international selection, and vintage children’s games and candy boxes lining the wall, it is easy to find something to satisfy any craving. There are the “nostalgia” items: Mary Janes, Tootsie Rolls, Sky Bars, Pez dispensers, Pop Rocks, and Pixie Stix. There are also the classic “New York City” items, for tourists and native New Yorkers alike. Owner Jerry Cohen says, “We

It's an old tenement storefront on the Lower East Side; the kind of place that doesn't exactly beckon you in from the street. But enter, and you'll feel right at home. Candies you never thought you would see again. Prices you imagined had disappeared. And sales help who ask if they can help you. You've found Economy Candy, where locals have bought their sweets for over 50 years.

The store has something for everyone. Amidst the counters of hand-dipped chocolate, barrels of nuts, shelves piled nearly to the ceiling with chocolates and candy, bins full of penny candy, a gourmet international selection, and vintage children’s games and candy boxes lining the wall, it is easy to find something to satisfy any craving. There are the “nostalgia” items: Mary Janes, Tootsie Rolls, Sky Bars, Pez dispensers, Pop Rocks, and Pixie Stix. There are also the classic “New York City” items, for tourists and native New Yorkers alike. Owner Jerry Cohen says, “We have a lot of tourists coming into the store, and they get a kick out of seeing Fox’s U-Bet chocolate syrup, used to make egg creams. Young kids that come in aren’t familiar with these things. We give them samples of halvah and they say, ‘That’s what my grandparents used to eat. I heard about that.’” Halvah, a staple Jewish American sweet, is a Turkish confection also popular in the Middle East and parts of Asia. Sesame seeds are crushed into a creamy paste called tahini and mixed with sugar, corn syrup, and egg whites. Many immigrant families remember eating halvah spread on bread and eaten like a sandwich. Economy offers different varieties, cut to order from big wedges of fresh-looking halvah.

While Economy Candy sells all these items, it doesn’t produce any candy on site. But its hand-dipped chocolates are made by a local chocolatier, JoMart, in Brooklyn. Besides candy the store does a brisk business in nuts, dried fruits, and teas, as it did over a generation ago. The store also offers a selection of non-candy gourmet items, such as oils, vinegars, and preserves.

Economy is interesting not only for its candy but also for its shoppers. They come in a steady stream. There are the regulars: older ladies stocking up for company and card games; kids celebrating the end of the school day; local workers shopping for home or office, chatting in the aisles. Then there are the first-timers: you can tell by way their eyes fly open when they walk in the door. The mix of cultures and classes is almost as varied as the mix of sweets. Combined with its unprepossessing ambiance, this something-for-everyone quality makes the store feel like a good place to be.

The Store's Beginnings

Economy Candy was opened in 1937 by the father and uncle of the store’s current owner, Jerry Cohen. Jerry took over the business from his father in the mid-1970s.

Economy Candy was originally located on the corner of Rivington and Essex streets, but close to 20 years ago moved a few doors down on Rivington Street to escape rising rents. At the same time, rent increases and other factors were forcing other candy stores in the Lower East Side out of business. In many ways, Economy Candy is the iconic Lower East Side store: Not only has it been in the neighborhood for over sixty years, but the current owner and his father were both born on the Lower East Side. Jerry and his sisters practically grew up in the candy store, living out many people’s childhood dreams. They went there after school and during the holidays, taking care of customers and packing bags.

When the store originally opened, the neighborhood was predominantly Jewish, but Jerry recalls, “We had everything for everybody: Easter, Passover, St. Patrick’s Day, I mean every holiday was big. Many years ago we used to have chocolate bunnies, and we used to put the kids’ names on the bunnies. Grandparents used to come down with a list: ‘for Henry,’ ‘for George.’ And everybody got their own little bunnies with their names on them.”

The Future

Jerry remembers that as he was growing up the Lower East Side had about eight candy stores: “We’re about the last one from the original ones left.” One other candy store remains today, The Sweet Life, at Hester and Ludlow streets; it has been in the neighborhood for twenty-one years. During Jerry’s youth Orchard Street “was booming with clothing shops,” and while the neighborhood is currently experiencing an economic resurgence, most of the new businesses are bars and restaurants and tend to open in the evening, which hasn’t brought much business to stores like Economy Candy.

The city has also seen a recent influx of gourmet chocolate and specialty shops to the city, especially in nearby Soho. Jerry is not worried about competition, though. He declares, “I don’t really have any competition. People come down here, believe it or not, for me, for my wife, for my father. People know of us; they know about our good prices, the quality. There’s enough out there for everybody. They just appreciate me more after spending thirty dollars a pound for chocolate. They come back here to me and find the basics. Our hand-dipped chocolate that we have on the counter beats everybody.”

Other than the continual adjustments to the store’s offerings, in response to food trends, Jerry Cohen has no plans to make any major changes or renovations to the store. “I try to keep it the same because we’re unique. I’m not gonna change anything.” And he plans to stay in the Lower East Side: “The neighborhood is great. . . . We’re one of the oldest stores in the neighborhood. There’s not many of us left, us and maybe Russ and Daughters (a local smoked fish and specialty food shop, established in 1914). Everybody else is wrapping up.”

(Place Matters, 2005)

Nominations

This store has been in the same location on the Lower East Side since 1937. It is a family owned business, started by the current owner's father (and the owner's son is also helping to run the business now, so it has three generations of history). Economy Candy represents the flavor and diversity of New York, when people came here and settled in the Lower East Side and tried to live a better life. It is also one of the last holdouts of the true Lower East Side. Most of these businesses have disappeared because they could not keep up with the escalating rents in the area. Because of its uniqueness and unpretentiousness, it is really one of the last places in the area that makes you feel like you are on the Lower East Side.

The store is visited by a wide assortment of people, including many who remember it from when they were children. People who live in the neighborhood visit the store, as well as people who have moved away from the area and come back to the store because of their memories/nostalgia. The space has not changed much, as it is crammed with penny candy in jars and also candies from childhood (along with newer novelty brands, for future generations to become nostalgic over). The owners talk about the neighborhood and local news with customers, and there is a familial feeling about the place, as if you were visiting people you grew up with (which, for some people, rings true, since the store was around when they were children). The store is now surrounded by trendy cafes and bars, and there is a luxury hotel going up across the street

When Jerry Cohen's father opened Economy Candy in 1937, it was a typical corner candy store of its day. Bulk bins full of colorful hard candies enticed youngsters with their panorama of choices. Guys could buy their dolls a heart-shaped box of chocolates when they had trouble expressing themselves in words. Barrels in the back yielded a geography lesson of nuts from around the world. What makes Economy Candy so popular and what has maintained an astonishing customer loyalty is that adapting hasn't meant abandoning its essential quality as a neighborhood candy store.