A while ago we wrote a review of one of London’s top shopping gems, a little shop called Cyber Candy, which seemed to go down pretty well. So we contacted Cyber Candy and recently met up with Margaret, one of the two founders:

So how did Cyber Candy get started, and where did you come up with the idea?
Well, it all started when my husband Alan was trying to buy some sweets that you couldn’t get in shops online anymore, and was really struggling to find somewhere to get them. He always says that was the ‘light bulb’ moment and where it all started……

We set up the website in 1999 when everyone was trying to make money online, and starting selling things from there…which eventually took up a lot of our spare time and space in our house. Then we got our first shop in Shelton Street and things just moved on from there.

What are the future plans for Cyber Candy?
We still have the shops in London and Brighton, and are planning a new shop in Birmingham, which will open soon. We still have a lot of customers online too.

So how has the operation grown over the years?
Well, we have gone from holding stock on the dining room table to warehouses in Tottenham, and ordering from people all over the world. It’s funny as I’ve now come to know a lot about different countries and their duties, taxes and customs. We import from pretty much everywhere now including USA, Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Sweden, Belgiumand a lot of places in Europe. We also stock products from UK and South Africa, plus any other weird and wonderful stuff we can lay hands on. While doing this job you become extremely well versed in variations of shipping and delivering goods, but it’s just that they are all sweets and candies and classed as luxury items rather than boring packages. Our stock can sometimes be higher in price because of it being classed as luxury items and because import duty and vat on confectionery is quite high, and combined with the current high costs of fuel and also cocoa as a commodity! All of these factors combine to make quite expensive sweeties - but a lot of fun!!

What are your best sellers and which products are always popular?
The insect based lollies and sweets always do well, and people seem to like those because they are something new and weird. The shop is largely full of British people trying things they have never seen or had the chance to buy before.

Anything that was available in the UK and then was withdrawn or stopped also do really well because people are always excited to see them again. Certain things always sell well like Twinkies, Lucky Charms and Mountain Dew!

Do you think these are mainly bought by Americans, or people who have tried them before?
No, not really. I think that a lot of the products are bought by people who have heard of them but never had the chance to try them. For example Twinkies, as people have always heard of them from cops films and Ghostbusters and because they can survive a nuclear threat but have never eaten one. So when they see them in the shop or online, they give them a go.

Do you get a lot of regular customers buying the same things?
We get familiar faces coming back over the years with their kids, who get a little bigger each time they come in! It’s quite cute seeing them spending their pocket money and getting stressed out about what they want to buy. You do see the same people buying the same things too. It’s more a case of seeing repeat customers or the same addresses popping up online, or people buying things in bulk which they can’t live without.
We also get a lot of people emailing us about new products or sweets from around the world, and asking us whether we are going to get hold of them.

So can you buy items in bulk online?
Yeah, that’s the best way to get a lot of one item and we ship to a lot of places including Europe and around Great Britain. You can also buy mystery boxes online, which are a good way of trying new things or for presents for people with a sweet tooth. Also, buying online can be better than lugging crates of drinks away from the shop.

What’s your favourite thing that has been stocked in the shop?
I like all the Japanese sweets and candies because they have really sweet packaging. I also like the Hello Kitty stuff, and the sweet jewelleries we stock, and some of the weird flavour lip balms.

Even in the short time we spent in the shop early one Sunday morning, the place has rapidly filled up with giggling kids, teenagers stocking up on root beer and people with amazed looks on their faces. Cyber Candy is a real life ‘Wonkaland’ whose success is firmly rooted in a couple’s great idea that has brought a lot of people joy (including me). If you ever have random cravings for Mountain Dew, Lucky Charms or Jolly Ranchers, then head down to the Covent Garden flagship store and check it out!