The Swedish candy craze has taken Boston by storm

Bostonians are toting around bags of Swedish candy from pick-and-mix stores across the city. 

Either from Madeleine’s Candy Shop, The Sweetish Fish, or lil sweet treat, the bags are full of the sugar-coated gummy treats that have flooded social media feeds and the American candy market in the last two years.

Americans of all generations turned to Swedish candy for their sugar fix after a New Yorker’s TikTok of her nightly outing for Swedish candy went viral in January 2024.

@marygracegraves This took a turn…. #bonbon #sweedishcandy #candyreview #uppereastside #dayinmylifenyc #bonbonnyc #fridaynightroutine ♬ Carmen Habanera, classical opera(1283412) – perfectpanda

Since then, Americans have been eager to get their hands on the flavors and textures unique to this candy. The candy also grew to fame because it’s healthier than American candy, albeit it’s still candy, because it doesn’t contain gluten, corn syrup, or trans fat, according to The New Yorker.

The owners of Madeleine’s, The Sweetish Fish, and lil sweet treat agreed that Swedish candy’s popularity stems from it being something new — and from the universal love for candy. 

In Sweden, candy has always been popular, mostly on Saturdays, because medical authorities in the 1950s created lördagsgodis, which translates to Saturday sweets, to promote only eating candy once per week in an effort to limit rising rates of tooth decay, according to the BBC.

Since then, lördagsgodis has remained a weekly tradition in Sweden and is now becoming a near-daily habit for some Bostonians. 

Madeleine’s Candy Shop

That viral TikTok is what led Madeleine Brason to quit her job in health science and open Madeleine’s Candy Shop in the South End. 

Brason always had a sweet tooth and grew irritated after seeing countless TikToks about Swedish candy, knowing there was nowhere to get it in Boston, she said. 

Her obsession with the candy, which she ordered from New York, “got so severe that I decided, ‘Why spend $5 on shipping from Bon Bon when I could just spend five figures and open my own store?’”

Madeleine’s Candy Shop opened in February and recently expanded to include a soft-serve ice cream window that opened on Oct. 5, with vanilla and maple ice cream topped with sprinkles or candy on the menu. 

For $1.50 per ounce, customers can choose from 50 pick-and-mix bins with sweet or sour gummy candies and chocolates, including Brason’s personal favorite chocolate covered gummy bears, from all over the world. Each bag of candy comes with a pair of chopsticks, inspired by Brason’s habit of using them for everything after seeing it online as a way to keep your hands clean when eating messy food. 

Originally, Brason put the heart of the Swedish candy craze, Bubs, known for their marshmallow texture and oval or skull shapes, in the bins, but customers fought over them and emptied the bins within 10 minutes. Now, Brason sells the Bubs in pre-packaged bags to account for the demand. (Bubs have become so popular in America that the company hosted a month-long pop-up in New York City lasting until Oct. 22.)

When she first opened the store, Brason wanted a “lifetime supply of candy,” but eight months into it, she “cherish[es] the relationships” with the “local, tight-knit community.” They suggest what candy she should stock next. 

Her regulars actually gave her the idea for the soft-serve window, which was made possible after Brason rented the first-floor space next door. 

The Sweetish Fish

After trying Swedish candy during a trip to New York City, Savanna Vaughn and Cara Crupi-Culmaine decided to start their own Swedish candy truck on Cape Cod in June.

Vaughn and Crupi-Culmaine agreed Swedish candy “need[ed] to come to Cape Cod and kind of breathe new life into the penny candy experience,” said Vaughn, who was wearing a fish-themed sweater.

The Sweetish Fish expanded their daily selection, known as the Daily Catch, to the Seaport in September for a pop-up open through February. The co-owners originally emailed Snowport to see if they could enter the market past the application deadline and instead wound up with an offer to open in one of The Current’s pop-up spaces, they said.

With pink stripes and red fish decorating the walls, customers can choose from about a dozen different candies every day for $1.75 per ounce. The Sweetish Fish offers three bag sizes — small, medium, and large — and customers who buy over a pound receive a complimentary pink net bag to coincide with the fish market theme.

Although the Daily Catch is listed online, “It’s just a fun thing where even if you came here yesterday with a friend, you come here tomorrow with the same friend and again have a new experience,” Vaughn said. 

The Sweetish Fish offers Bubs on their menu every day since “Bubs are like the gateway” to Swedish candy, Vaughn said. “I think part of our mission is to introduce more candy that’s similar to Bubs.”

While the candy grew to fame online, the act of creating a pick-and-mix bag lends itself to conversation and community as customers of all ages discuss the flavors and textures of Swedish candy, the co-owners said. 

lil sweet treat

lil sweet treat first opened in New York City’s West Village in September 2024 and now has six locations — four in New York, one in Philadelphia, and one in Boston. 

After so many “candy connoisseurs” expressed interest in lil sweet treat coming to Boston, the Newbury Street location opened in May, bringing Bostonians “a little extra joy through candy,” lil sweet treat founder Elly Ross said. 

Ross was inspired to open a candy store after trying different kinds of candy as she traveled the world. “I can’t go a meal without a sweet treat and so I knew from my personal experience that there are so many countries with really excellent and unique candy,” she said. 

To curate the wide selection of candy, “we’re always on the search for the best of the best candy from around the world, working with gummy artisans,” Ross said.

“I think the beauty of being human is that everyone has different taste buds,” she continued. “We’re really looking to revitalize the candy space … everyone from any background, any age loves candy and how do we introduce new textures and flavors that might not be readily available anywhere else?”

Online, lil sweet treat offers tips for how to make the perfect pick-and-mix bag: start with one or two textures then contrast those textures and add complimentary flavors. 

The selections in lil sweet treat’s approximately 40 candy bins change every Monday at 5 p.m., and the candy costs $4.85 per one-quarter pound or about $1.21 per ounce. 

As lil sweet treat quickly became a franchise, Ross said her favorite part is “seeing the smiles of people who have a lil sweet treat in their hand.”

With the store’s butter yellow walls lined with candy bins and posters, each candy bag, recently decorated with pumpkins, candy corn, and leaves, reminds customers “you deserve a … lil sweet treat.”