A New York confection firm that is the largest specialty candy-store chain in the US is gearing up for a sweet Valentine’s Day.
Jeff Rubin, a candy veteran who launched FAO Schwarz’s candy department and partnered with Dylan Lauren to launch Dylan’s Candy Bar in New York, started It’Sugar in 2006.
He’s got more than 60 stores in the US, as well as in Panama, Venezuela and Dubai, and just opened at Selfridges in London.
There are four stores in New York, including a 3,000 square-foot flagship bursting with candy in Noho and plans to open two new locations, in Brooklyn Heights and on the Upper East Side in March.
Last year, the company’s sales were $60 million, up from $42 million a year before, and $30 million two years earlier.
Rubin expects to open 20 more stores in 2014. Candy has so far proved to be recession-proof and is still an affordable luxury, he says.
Rubin says the company’s fun approach to candy — it has an adult section selling “Walk of Shame” mints and, for Valentine’s Day, edible candy bras and underwear — makes it different. Ashley Greene, Jayden Smith and Bethenny Frankel are among the fans of the stores.
It’Sugar also just developed a candy line with “Saturday Night Live” to mark SNL’s 40th anniversary season. It will debut in late summer or early fall.