Candy offers affordable comfort during trying times

With the confident stride of a woman on a mission, Adrienne Smith walked into the candy shop and went right to the gummy bear bins, where she scooped up $3 worth of the addictive, chocolate-covered gummies.

Since IT'SUGAR opened at Town Square six weeks ago, Smith has made a weekly trek to the candy store, stocking up on what has quickly become her favorite confection.

After everything she has been through -- the loss of her job and a yearlong search for a new one -- Smith, 41, says she deserves to treat herself to something that takes her back to the innocent days of childhood, when her only concern was how much candy she could buy with a dollar.

"I kind of feel like a kid when I come in here," says Smith, looking around at the rainbow assortment of candy, the island of sugar dust, the chocolates with naughty expressions on them.

Smith, who admits to occasionally stress eating, isn't the only one turning to candy as a mood booster. As Americans' uncertainty about the economy has risen in the past couple of years, so, too, has their confection consumption. And if the recent candy store openings in Las Vegas are any indication, candy just may be a recession-proof industry.

In addition to IT'SUGAR, Sugar Factory opened in The Mirage last June. A second location debuted at Planet Hollywood in February, and this summer, the company plans to open a third store in Paris Las Vegas. Popcorn Girl opened in the northwest valley in November, selling 50 flavors of popcorn and some nostalgia candy. Max Brenner's Chocolate by the Bald Man is coming soon.

That's in addition to Vosges Haut-Chocolat at the Forum Shops at Caesars, Ethel M, Sees and a handful of other candy shops around town.

"There's been a huge push for this kind of product," Blair Ford, general manager of IT'SUGAR, says, referring to the company's core product of bulk and nostalgia candy.

The local store is the company's fourth to open since it was founded in 2005. Sales may lag during certain times of the year, Ford says, but overall, IT'SUGAR has been riding a sugar high.

Barry Rowen, vice president of confectionery specialty for the New York-based ESM sales and marketing company, says candy is a huge seller during a recession.

"The rationale is, when times are tough, you can't afford a TV or a refrigerator, but you'll treat yourself to a box of candy," Rowen says. "You can share with the family."

From 2008 to 2009, chocolate candy saw a 3.5 percent increase in sales, from $6.8 billion to $7 billion; nonchocolate candy sales increased nearly 6 percent; while gum increased 2 percent, according to Information Resources Inc., a Chicago-based market research firm. Its data includes candy sold at supermarkets, drugstores, convenience stores and mass market retailers, excluding Wal-Mart.

If people are watching what they spend on other products, they're quite willing to indulge their sweet tooth with high-end candy, Rowen adds. Sales of candy such as Ghirardelli and Lindt are doing well.

"I definitely think people are gravitating toward that end of the market right now," says Corey Jenkins, spokesman for Sugar Factory. "We're doing well."

While the stores carry bulk candy, the company's trademark candy is a $23 couture lollipop.

A 2009 candy study sponsored by the National Confectioners Association, the American Wholesale Marketers Association and NACS, the Association for Convenience and Petroleum Retailing, called confection a recession-proof industry.

And there may be historical evidence of that. Two candy brands launched in the middle of the Great Depression -- Snickers in 1930 and Three Musketeers in 1932 -- quickly became popular, says Ryan Bowling, spokesman for Mars Chocolate North America.

People tend to have strong feelings about their favorite candy. They often see something from their childhood, and it triggers memories associated with the first time they had a piece of chocolate or a Jolly Rancher or a gummy bear.

"I think it's something fun that people can relate to," Ford says. "If you think about the economy and the struggles people have had, going into a candy store allows them to forget about their trouble for a few minutes. It's their magical secret moment of fun."

Contact reporter Sonya Padgett at spadgett@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4564.