Sweet treats, the chief executive of candy chain IT'SUGAR tells TheStreet, are always a good business strategy — they appeal to a very wide range of consumers and have the low price and "feel-good factor" that keeps people purchasing even during the most difficult of economic times.
The BBX Capital Corporation (BBX)-owned chain currently has over 100 locations across the country and recently opened a new three floor, 30,000-square-foot location on San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf.
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IT'SUGAR proudly proclaims its products have "Absolutely No Nutritional Value" and are "Part of an unbalanced breakfast." The company offers a slew of candy and candy-related products ranging from five-pound gummy bears to Oreo fuzzy slippers.
"The thing about our stores is that it's not like you wake up one morning and say 'How cool would it be if I had a Twinkie t-shirt?'," Rubin told TheStreet in an exclusive interview. "You need to be [and get customers] in this happy space."
Rubin sat down with TheStreet to chat about growing a retail candy brand, reaching customers with a different range of ages as well as current trends in the candy and chocolate space.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
TheStreet: How did IT'SUGAR come to be?
Rubin: I have been a candy man almost my entire life. I used to sell candy at the end of my driveway and sold Bubble Yum during the Bubble Yum shortage of 1977. The family was in an original chain of bulk candy stores in the late 1980s and 1990s so I got acclimated to the retail side of candy through them. And then I went out on my own and created a concept in the famous F.A.O Schwartz store on Fifth Avenue called F.A.O Schweetz [the store closed its doors permanently in 2015 but the brand has been trying to break back into New York]. I put Schweetz in all the Schwartzes and from there co-created a concept called Dylan's Candy Bar with Ralph Lauren's daughter Dylan Lauren in 2001. After what I called 10 years of marketing candy toward crowds that came to DCB and F.A.O. Schwartz, I went out and created IT'SUGAR. We opened our doors in June 2006.
IT'SUGAR/Facebook
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TheStreet: Your business strategy tailors around a one-stop shop in which visitors can create their perfect personalized candy mix and also find a wide range of both common, hard-to-find and retro candies. Is curation the future of retail?
Jeff Rubin: In the larger stores, we've introduced somewhere between two and three dozen of what we call stations. Each station is a different experience. We've got, for example, nearly 10 different flavors of Skittles sold individually by the flavor. There's a table of every individual flavor of Pez. Dark chocolate, white chocolate, milk chocolate, a gummy bear table. To take that to the next level really involves bringing those brands to life a little bit more.
The candy industry says that 92% of candy is sold on the grocery aisle — a metaphorical Walmart (WMT) or Target TICKER peg hook. We told the brands that we could offer them way more than a peg hook but a chance to experience the brand. So if you like Sour Patch Kids, you can not only buy the Sour Patch Kids in a special gift container but you can also buy socks, t-shirts, candles, towels, umbrellas with Sour Patch Kids on them. We can immerse you in everything Sour Patch Kids, Swedish Fish, Oreo... We've created all these exclusive licenses with all these candy brands that allow the customer to come into our stores and find their favorite sugary treat and it's amazing how much people actually wear it. There's something about sugary treats that puts a smile on everybody's face more than [clothing with] insurance company brands or salad dressing [makers].
TS: For years, candy was tailored as a treat for kids but it seems as though a large portion of your customer base is adults. How do you market your product to kids, adults and parents buying candy for kids all at the same time?
JR: We've got two stores on the Las Vegas Strip that are big, big stores. We've got stores on college campuses. We would never be able to pay the landlords for these type of locations if it [our product] was strictly only for kids.
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You don't outgrow a sweet tooth and you don't hit an age when you say 'I'm too old for candy' or 'I'm too old for sugary treats.' I think the audience is everybody and that's what makes these so universally successful. You've tapped into something that is for the child in all of us and that inner child that never leaves. I don't know of too many giant stores that you could fill with a product other than sugary treats.
TS: You call some of your larger locations "candy department stores" and setting sights on high-end shopping centers like the Ala Moana in Honolulu. How do you bridge candy's accessibility with that luxury angle?
These centers can't just sell apparel and products that anybody can find online; they need to bring something that is unique and different. The thing about our stores is that it's not like you wake up one morning and say 'How cool would it be if I had a Twinkie t-shirt?' You need to be in this happy space and reconnect with something in your inner self that brings you back to a specific time. With the world the way it is right now, candy seems to be the one thing that everybody can unite on. A place that can offer all the different brands has definitely been working.
TS: Let's end with a fun questions. What new trends are you seeing in the candy and chocolate space?
JR: Gummy and sour candy continue to grow at a stronger rate than the chocolate market has. I think Gen Z is and the younger millennials have started a trend that is a love affair with gummy-like candies. The non-edible variety, just to make that abundantly straight! But also novelty candy continues to grow. Companies are being so innovative with new products and, with the advent of TikTok, [influencers] are grabbing a bunch of them and helping make them incredibly popular.
