Revealed: The best lolly shops in regional Victoria, Jolly Lolly Trolley, Sprinkles Ice Creamery Lollies N More
From Darrell Lea shops to milk bars, picking up a bag of lollies used to only cost a couple of cents. Meet the Melbourne lolly store owners still keeping sweet tooths happy.
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Travelling across the state with your friends for a great getaway or just craving sweets in general?
Either way, you are bound to be spoiled for choice.
From Melbourne’s west, all the way up the state’s north and down to Victoria’s south, you will be greeted with lollies. Now isn’t that sweet?
See the expanding list of the best lolly shops across the state.
Global Confectionery
8/114 Canterbury Rd, Kilsyth South
Global Confectionery started as an old-school milk bar back in 1974 and has now grown into a thriving wholesale confectionery supplier.
The business was started by couple Elfi and Kurt Mueller, with their sons Chris and Mike now taking the reins.
“Elfi would run the milk bar and Kurt saw a gap in the market for a wholesaler,” customer service manager Donna Williams said.
“He started a wholesale business out of the back of a van at the start.
“He would go around selling things and visiting shops and from there the business just grew and grew.”
The business still has a retail lolly shop and two warehouses out the back for its wholesale business.
It sells a huge range of sweets including chocolate coated raspberries, Warheads, FADs lollies, raspberry umbrella lollipops, and anything popular on TikTok, including jelly fruits, are a big hit.
“Everyone remembers the old milk bars when you’d go in with one or two cent pieces and buy your freckles and milk bottles so there is definitely a nostalgia factor when it comes to lollies,” Ms Williams said.
The business delivers Australia wide and supplies a lot of local lolly shops.
Kurt has now passed away but Elfi still comes in to bag lollies.
“The Mueller family, the legacy they left the boys is amazing, it’s a real family run business here,” Ms Williams said.
“Chris and Mike grew up surrounded by lollies which would have been an amazing childhood.”
The Biggest Lollie Shop In The World
247 Mickleham Rd, Westmeadows
As its name suggests, The Biggest Lollie Shop in the World is a haven for sweet fans.
The 20,000sq m store is stacked with retro and current treats from Australia and the US, and attracts sweet tooths from all over the country.
Ben Gordon, who runs the business with his parents Paul and Robyn Gordon, said his mum and dad had been involved in lollies and confectionery for 40 years, and had been based at their Westmeadows location for 25 years.
“In the retail store we stock over 3000 items and we were the first lolly shop to introduce party goods about 15 years ago,” he said.
“We’ll have people from Sydney fly down for holidays and their first stop is our store, it’s like a ritual for them.
“We have a lot of people from interstate and country Victoria visit too, you might have a family from Echuca that come down for a day trip and they might go to Costco and come here as well and stock up.”
Ben said a lot of customers were overwhelmed when they entered the store.
“I think they feel like their bank account is about to take a hit. Then they grab a trolley and 99 per cent of people go nuts and buy everything.”
Ben said all of their USA products were popular including Takis Mexican corn chips, which kids love on TikTok.
Another top selling item is the Pickle-In-A-Pouch – a dry pickle half the size of your arm that comes from the US.
Ben’s top pick is the flaming hot Cheetos.
The store also sells a big range of retro lollies – milk bottles, Choo Choo Bars, strawberries and cream, coconut rough, and licorice allsorts.
“People reminisce when they come in and grab something and say ‘I haven’t seen this for 10 years’, Ben said.
“They come to the counter and freak out because they see a Choo Choo Bar or metre long licorice strip so you get a lot of comments like that.”
Ben’s parents originally opened a lolly shop at South Melbourne Market and customers who visited them there, and are now aged in their 80s and 90s, still come into the Westmeadows store and shop with grandkids.
“Some customers mum and dad have known for about 20 years,” Ben said.
The store always has new deliveries coming in and stocks items you can’t find in supermarkets.
Red Robin Milk Bar / The Red Robin General Store
35 Hereford Rd, Mount Evelyn
So many fantastic lollies and fabulous service, is how customers describe the Red Robin General Store in Mt Evelyn. Based out of an old milk bar it is stacked full with goodies, including international and local lollies and chocolates. Like going back in time!
USAFoods
67-73 Cochranes Rd, Moorabbin
A must-visit for fans of American sweets, shoppers can shop from a variety of brands at this mega store in Moorabbin, including Hostess Twinkies, apple pies and ding dongs, Hershey’s, Betty Crocker and Dr Pepper. The store imports real American products directly from the US It is hosting a special Fourth of July celebration with in-store discounts on July 1 and 2.
The Original Lolly Store
267 Lygon St, Carlton, Melbourne Emporium Shopping Centre, The Glen Shopping Centre Glen Waverley
This gorgeous Lygon St store is stacked full of goodies including 1m licorice wheels, Neapolitan marshmallow wafers, snowballs, ABC letters, fudge and gummy bears.
Jolly Lolly Trolley-Phillip Island
25 Thompson Ave, Cowes
A favourite among locals and visitors alike, this family run lolly and ice cream shop has been around for decades.
Owner Donna Newton started the business 30 years ago and it has become the one stop shop for those in Bass Coast looking for a little something sweet.
The Jolly Lolly Trolley carries between 400 and 500 different types of lollies and with 200 types in their pick and mix alone.
Ms Newton said her shop was a place for everyone to find the lollies they loved and remembered.
“In Australia for those in an older age group a lot of the lollies were English-based, so we have a huge range of those,” she said.
“It really hits the spot for the memories of those older generation of when they were children.”
She also said you wouldn’t find too many other stores that stocked the same extensive range of Dutch licorice.
“We have about 30-30 different types, most places don’t carry that many,” she said.
She added their international range is probably the most popular, with American and English sweets enticing people to try things they can’t get off the supermarket shelves.
Ms Newton’s favourite item in the shop is the peanut clusters, a small cluster of peanuts coated in chocolate.
She loves owning and working in the shop because it brings joy into people’s lives.
“I love when I am in there and people walk in and their eyes widen and they smile, they take a deep breath and all those memories from when they were a kid come back,” she said.
“And for the kids it is just all that colour.
“When I first started the shop I thought it would mostly be for people in their late teens and early twenties but I didn’t realise older people would have that same reaction of excitement.”
Because the Jolly Lolly Trolley has been on Phillip Island for such a long time, Ms Newton said she loves the “history” she has with locals.
Sprinkles Ice Creamery Lollies N More
170 Thames Bvd, Tarneit
30 Tackle Dr, Point Cook
Visitors have been caught tearing up in the back aisles of the Sprinkles store at Tarneit, the site of an old milk bar in Melbourne's west, as memories of their childhood come flooding back.
Shop owner Zane Assaad, alongside brother Kouda, grew up working in their parents’ shop and now get extreme satisfaction of providing not only products but an experience for their many customers old and new.
Mr Assaad told the Herald Sun it didn’t take much to make someone’s day when you delivered service with a smile and genuine care for customers, and it didn’t hurt that they were surrounded by sweets old and new.
Popular products flying off the shelves at both stores, to not even begin on the ice creams, are American classics such as Hershey's chocolates, as well old-school products like ring tops, fads, and mint patties.
Zane, who unsurprisingly has a sweet tooth himself, go-to sweets are Allens‘ mixed lolly bags and has a particular liking for killer pythons and red frogs.
Ye Olde Lolly Shoppe
227 Tenth St, Mildura
The best lolly store in the far northwest has to be Ye Olde Lolly Shoppe in Mildura.
This humble little store can be found along Tenth St.
Ye Olde Lolly Shoppe has been in operation since 1938 and is currently in the care of Peter and Ingrid Allen.
The couple has been operating the store for the last ten years, and they stock everything from local Australian-made sweets to imports from America.
Mr Allen said the thing that set their store apart was the ambience.
“It's partly from what we sell but it’s also from the ambience of the store,” he said.
“It‘s a very old-style lollie shop — it’s still got all the old fittings in it, we’ve got a bike that runs across the ceiling and a train that runs through walls.”
GC Nuts and Confectionery
644 Wyndham St, Shepparton
GC Nuts and Confectionery in Shepparton has been serving the community with sweets for decades.
The locally owned business — operated by Glenn and Melissa Campbell — pride themselves on great products and professional service.
The store offers a variety of classic favourites such as lollies, chips, chocolate and nuts.
The website can also sort sweets by colour range, so you can find your desired treats.
During Christmas time, the business can pack together value for money quality hampers — where customers and visitors are offered a set priced hamper and lollies are selected for you.
You can also have a hamper made to your liking, allowing you to be as creative as you want.
During the Easter period, the store stocks milk chocolate and white chocolate bunnies and can put together Mother’s Day and Father’s Day packages — so you’re all set for the year with gifts.
Select Sweets
1043 Mount Alexander Road, Essendon
The family-run business was established in 1977 in Essendon North Village, in a quaint shopping strip just 10km northwest of the Melbourne CBD.
Known for their old fashion classic licorice of all sorts, be it sherbet bombs, sour lemon, caramel mates, clinkers, freckles, boiled lollies, or English sweets and candy from the USA.
Owner Angela Barber said Select Sweets was the ideal spot for any lolly lovers in Melbourne.
“Select Sweets is a fun place to be. The intensely sweet, chocolatey aroma when you walk in the door and the kaleidoscope of colour is so wonderful to take it,” she said.
From stocking up rare finds like choc whip, soft fresh snowballs, sherbet cones and marshmallow wafers, Select Sweets also offers a great range of rocky road.
“We also sell aniseed: rings, plain or chocolate coated, humbugs and also licorice: soft, hard, all sorts, black cats, choo choo bars, even Dutch licorice,” Ms Barber said.
“There are so many treats that take customers down memory lane, fads, wizz fizz, inch licorice blocks, eucalyptus diamonds, big boss, chocolate coated banana.”
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