Clawson

Sweet on you

By Jeremy Carroll
C & G Staff Writer

Massive candy store in Clawson offers ‘something for everybody’

CLAWSON — After stopping by earlier to pick up some old favorites that she hadn’t seen or snacked on in ages, Julie Martz was in Doc Sweets’ Candy Co. for the second time in one day.

“There’s a lot here,” Martz said. “It’s fun to see.”

After picking up some Zots, a black licorice pipe and some candy cigarettes, Martz was standing in a massive row of theater-size candy for $1.59 each with her daughter Brynn.

“We’re going to the movies, so we had to get some candy,” she said.

Doc Sweets’ Candy Co., 120 S. Rochester Road, swung open the doors of the 5,000-square-foot candy wonderland earlier this month.

Owner David Sklena said he wanted a store that was different than anything out there, hoping to recapture the old candy store feel with a much larger space.

“There’s something for everybody here,” he said.

Sklena, 40, of Troy previously worked as a project manager and in human resources before making the plunge to open the store, which is just south of 14 Mile Road. He said opening a store in a terrible economy is scary, but once he made up his mind to do it, he didn’t stop.

“I don’t have any control over the economy,” he said. “There is no better time than the present.”

Besides, he said, the store is exactly what people need in times like these.

“Where else can you go in with only a couple of dollars and leave happy?” Sklena said. “Everyone comes in here with a big smile on their face. It’s different than any place I’ve ever worked before.”

With more than 2,000 pieces of candy in the store, the stock varies from the normal Snickers to the rare Wonka Bar and even to the bizarre: chocolate covered crickets and candy scorpions.

Prices vary from 10 cents for a piece of candy to $5.99 for a 1-pound Sugar Daddy bar.

“I had someone buy this for a co-worker, and I was told he ate it in two days,” Sklena said, holding the extremely oversized Sugar Daddy bar.

There are more than 250 different items in the bulk candy section, 12 different flavors of rock candy and 37 different flavors of the old-fashioned candy sticks, which sell for 15 cents each.

“We sell every flavor that is offered,” he said.

The store attempts to specialize in retro-candy, including Sky Bars, Coffee Crisps and Big Hunk bars. And if Doc Sweets’ Candy Co. doesn’t carry something on your sweet-tooth wish list, just ask, Sklena said.

“We have a list going right now of what people want,” he said. “If we can find it, we’ll get it.”

The store also carries a large variety of sugar-free items.

“They are really big sellers,” Sklena said.

He said he hopes the store becomes a destination for candy lovers from all over.

Doc Sweets’ Candy Co. is open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday though Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday. For more information, call them at (248) 597-1051.

You can reach C & G Staff Writer Jeremy Carroll at jcarroll@candgnews.com or at (586)279-1110.