Where to find Melbourne’s best lolly and confectionery shops
From Essendon to Kilsyth, we’ve got some of the best lolly shops across Melbourne. Here are some of the top spots to satisfy your sweet tooth.
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Mandy Moore, Elvis Presley, Shirley Temple and 50 Cent all sang about it and the world has a near-endless appetite for it.
Whatever you call it — candy, lollies or confectionery — the sweet stuff has us hooked.
Melbourne is home to some standout places to get your sugar fix, with all colours, flavours and shapes available for your sweet-tooth pleasure.
It’s enough to make Willy Wonka green with envy. So to mark this week’s opening of the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory musical at Her Majesty’s Theatre, we’ve delved into some of the best, biggest and most unusual lolly emporiums across Melbourne.
So you’ll never be without something to soothe your sugar cravings.
Join us live from the red carpet at the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory opening night from 7pm today on the Herald Sun Facebook page.
NORTH
Select Sweets Essendon
Want a novelty sweet? Something for your valentine? Or perhaps a hamper that will give you a serious sugar rush?
This place is worth checking out for its big range and classic favourites.
Grab packets of Allen’s homemade chocolate truffles, licorice, jelly snakes and plenty more. The best thing are the old-fashioned lolly bags, which are always popular, especially for adults reminiscing about strawberry and cream and foam bananas.
Select Sweets Essendon, 1043 Mt Alexander Road, Essendon North.
The Biggest Lollie Shop in the World
The name is fairly self-explanatory — it’s a very, very big shop dedicated to lollies.
It’s hard to know where to begin, as there is simply so much variety to choose from; there are sections just for soft lollies, hard lollies, chocolates and licorice.
If you can imagine it, you can probably find it here — jellies, marshmallows, gummies in every colour and flavour, plus rock candy, and lollipops.
If you’re after novelty sweets, there’s lots to choose from, such as giant gummy bears, multi-coloured sour straps, and gobstoppers.
The Biggest Lollie Shop in the World, 247 Mickleham Road, Westmeadows.
The Original Lolly Shop
A long-time favourite for all the right reasons, this purveyor of all things sugar has a huge range of traditional lollies such as raspberry lollipops, mints, and brightly coloured treats that instantly grab kids’ attention.
But it’s its US range that brings in many customers; it’s where you can buy Reese’s Peanut Butter cups in all possible sizes, Junior Mints, Lucky Charms cereal, Pop Tarts, Butterfinger and Tootsie Roll bars, and of course, Hershey.
Its Carlton store is set to move to a new premises, just a few doors up from its current location, any day now.
The Original Lolly Shop, multiple locations across Melbourne.
SOUTH AND WEST
The Red Balloon Candy Artisans
Rock candy specialists, you can design your own sugary delights at this Prahran spot.
Choose your favourite colours, flavours and message, or pick from its out-of-this-world selection of planet lollipops, which are far too pretty to eat.
Check out their impressive skull-shaped hard candies, plus cubes of jelly lollies.
There are also plenty of vegan-friendly options.
The Red Balloon Candy Artisans, 5/3 King Street, Prahran.
Global Confectionery
This sweet spot claims it sells more than 12,000 items and looking at its walls full of colourful lollies, that’s probably quite accurate.
There are plenty of weird and wonderful novelty lollies, chocolates and more, such as “crazy dummy teeth”, “brain lickers”, “zombie chews” and “funky foam”.
If you want international flavours, check out its UK and US sections, like Marshmallow Fluff, Wrigley’s Gum, Pop Rock Magic Candy, Black Jacks, Sherbet Fountains and many more.
Global Confectionery, 8/114 Canterbury Road, Kilsyth.
INNER CITY
Choca Mama
If you like your lollies with sophistication, head to this CBD store.
The simple sweet is elevated to high-quality treats and there’s plenty to choose from — chunks of aniseed covered in hundreds and thousands, candy licorice bullets, popcorn, peanut brittle, rose and walnut Turkish delight and a sweet selection of rock candies.
There’s also an enormous chocolate range, including pastilles, coated coffee beans, coconut rough, scorched peanuts and chocolate-coated pretzels.
Choca Mama, Shop 20, Royal Arcade, 335 Bourke Street Mall, Melbourne.
Sugar Station
Do you have a thing for jelly beans? Put Sugar Station on your to-visit list.
With a huge range of Jelly Belly jelly beans, you’ll be bouncing around the shop as you choose from fruits, sours, doughnut-flavoured, ice cream-flavoured, and the classic assorted.
There’s also a 1kg (!) single jelly bean you can buy, though you will probably want to share this one.
A place made for kids, you can also pick up the real life Harry Potter range (bug slugs or Bertie Botts, anyone?).
Sugar Station, multiple locations across Melbourne.
Treats From Home
The Brits do lollies extremely well and if you’re not willing to travel halfway across the world to buy some UK delights, this Collins Street establishment is the next best thing to an airplane ticket.
There are lots of UK-only Cadbury items, like Fudge Bar and buttons, plus the lolly section is full of classics like Candyland Fruit Salad, Chewits Blackcurrant, Dip Dab, Maynard Midget gems and Rowntree Tooty Fruity.
You can also pick up some UK savoury favourites, like pork scratchings, Bisto Best gravy, Bovril and Heinz Sandwich Spread.
Bonus: It also sells Royal Family merchandise, if you want a commemorative spoon or mug in honour of Harry and Meghan’s wedding
Treats From Home, Collins two3four, 234, level 1 Collins Street, Melbourne.
The Chocolate Box
A classic Melbourne favourite, The Chocolate Box sells much more than just chocolates; its lolly range covers everything from marshmallows to juicy jellies.
This high-quality shop stocks favourites like toasted marshmallows, chocolate-covered raspberry lollies, aniseed and raspberry licorice in all sorts of shapes, and big, delicious bags of honeycomb that crumbles in the mouth.
The Chocolate Box, multiple locations across Melbourne.
MORE: WHERE TO FIND MELBOURNE’S BEST CHOCOLATE
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Lollie Lovers
When you go to the Queen Victoria Market, most people are there to pick up their fruit and vegetables, meat and fancy cheeses.
But you can also grab some old-school sweets at this lolly emporium on Elizabeth Street.
Presented in equally old-school glass jars, these yesteryear throwbacks still have plenty of contemporary fans for the ever-popular strawberry and cream, passionfruit, eucalyptus, lemon and bullseye.
For those looking for a fun gift, pick up a jar of specially-branded sweets for those who are grumpy, hungover, or happy.
Lollie Lovers, 513 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne
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