42 Best Places to Shop in USA

Avalon's favorite candy store (since 1941) still has the iconic salt water taffy–pulling machine in the front window. Besides selling Lloyd's Famous Salt Water Taffy, they sell fresh bakery items, gourmet candy apples, fudge, coffee, frozen drinks, and ice cream.

Take a break from browsing at Joseph's several galleries and boutiques to indulge in first-rate caramels and truffles at this popular downtown shop. You'll also find rich, hot mochas that blend chocolate with Portland's Stumptown coffee. The sweets come in novel flavors, including caramels infused with lime juice and habanero sea salt, huckleberry truffles, and truffles blended with whiskey from local Stein Distillery and dark chocolate.

Walking into this store is like entering a sanctum built floor to ceiling of everything chocolate. A front-facing display case is lined with hundreds of local and European artisanal chocolates and truffles that you can buy by the piece or the pound. There are also seasonal chocolate treats, specialty and gourmet bars, bagged candy, and unique gift boxes. This shop even carries a few select flavors of gelato.

South Congress is filled with shops that pack a nostalgia factor, but none is quite as sweet as this place, where bins upon bins of colorful sour candies, chocolates, and lollipops line the oh-so-colorful walls. There’s Shakespearean Insult Gum, Texas-made Chick-O-Sticks, and gobs of themed candy. Beat the heat on a hot day here at the old-fashioned soda fountain counter, where you can order classic egg creams, homemade cherry limeades, ice cream sundaes, and an expanded menu of boozy milkshakes and handmade hard seltzers.

Shops don't get more adorable than this downtown candy store with the bright pink awning, winning sweet-toothed fans since 1955 for their slow-cooked, small-batch confections. Their version of a clambake is a too-cute assortment of chocolate sea creatures on a bed of chocolate rocks. Sea salt caramels, made with local sea salt, are a favorite, and they stay open year-round.

Taking in the appetizing scents in this shop is almost enough, but sinking your teeth into one of Monica's truffles, bonbons, crèmes, or caramels is pure heaven. Try a needham, a traditional Maine candy with a sugar, coconut, and potato filling, or a chocolate-shape moose or lobster. Conveniently on Route 189 at the turn for West Quoddy Head Light, it's owned by a Peruvian native (yes, Monica) and also carries clothing and accessories from her homeland. Indeed, some chocolates have a Peruvian filling.

America's oldest candy shop is truly a wonderland of sweet treats, with a wide assortment of beautifully made handcrafted delights, such as chocolate assortments, clear "toy" candy, seasonal goodies, and candy-filled gift boxes. (They also have an incredibly rich hot chocolate during the colder months.) While perusing, you can learn all about the history of this lovely shop that first opened in the 1800s.

Located on the bayfront in downtown Hilo, this beautifully decorated candy boutique is a blast from the past, featuring an amazing array of nostalgic candies, artisan chocolates, and wooden barrels overflowing with saltwater taffy and other delights.

This hole-in-the-wall confections shop has made a name for itself thanks to its pillowy mochi. The proprietors are best known for their huge, ripe strawberries wrapped in a white mochi covering, which won't last as long as a box of chocolates—most mochi items are good for only two or three days. To guarantee you get your fill, call and place your order ahead of time.

The decadent confection comes in countless flavors here, from the traditional (cocoa-powder-coated Amaretto) to the unusual (flavored with rum-coconut liqueur and coated with coconut flakes). There's something for everyone, even vegans. Bonus: all espresso drinks come with a complimentary truffle.

Locally beloved Wilbur Chocolate carries an array of confections, from the famous solid chocolate Wilbur Buds to chocolate-covered marshmallows and dark chocolate caramels. There is candy-related memorabilia and equipment displayed throughout, and candy makers work behind a giant window so you can see the Wilbur process.

Stocked floor to ceiling with sugary treats, chocolate confections, and chewy caramels, Amy's Candy Bar packs a lot of flavor into a small Damen Avenue storefront. Stop by to stock up on their homemade candy bars and marshmallows, bags of sour treats and licorice, or even German- and Swedish-inspired sweets. 

If you have a sweet tooth, you can't skip a trip to the Bang Candy Company. Located in the Marathon Village complex, Bang specializes in handmade creatively flavored marshmallows, but it's far more than a one-trick pony. The shop also sells handmade syrups, chocolates, and other adventurous confections, as well as CBD Dream Drops, which blend tasty confections with relaxing CBD oil.

What started as a fundraising endeavor for a high-school trip to Italy in 2006 has grown into a four-store, family-owned empire peddling the preservative-free, non-GMO, chocolate-topped toffee that has been touted by Oprah Winfrey and Martha Stewart. You can watch candy being made while enjoying toffee milk shakes, pretzels, popcorn, brownies, or ice-cream bars. You can also stock up on souvenir tins. (Good luck getting them all the way home.)

Try the sea-glass hard candy and the coffee bark at this little shop offering small treats in a tiny town.

Built in 1917 and remodeled to retain its historic character, this landmark building in downtown Cedar City contains an old-fashioned drug store, complete with a soda fountain from the 1950s. Enjoy ice cream, shakes, sundaes, and malts, or try one of the uniquely flavored sodas. And then pick up a few treats at the candy counter, or browse the adjacent gift shops, where you'll find a tempting selection of toys and souvenirs.

Get your sugar fix at the time-warped Candy Baron, filled with old-fashioned goodies like gumdrops, licorice, bull's-eyes, sugar-free candies, and more than 50 flavors of saltwater taffy.

Chocolate truffles and sea-salt caramels are favorites here, but you can also buy made-on-site items such as chocolate in the shapes of cowboy boots and high heels. Most items are sold for takeout, but there's limited in-store seating if you just can't wait to scarf down these delicious sweets with a cup of rich hot chocolate.

Boasting the world's longest candy counter, at 112 feet, this kid- and adult-approved century-plus-old candy shop with satellite locations in Lincoln, Loon Mountain Resort, and Bretton Woods carries just about every variety of sweet treat you could imagine.

Sample homemade fudge and taffy that's been cooked, stretched, and wrapped on-site at this old-fashioned confectionery shop. The old-time candies in nostalgic tins make thoughtful gifts.

Oh, to be a kid in a candy store! Economy Candy has been making life sweeter since 1937, and the floor-to-ceiling shelves and candy-and-nut dispensers here are filled with bulk specialty and brand-name goodies, from every flavor of gummy candy and jelly bean—you can purchase by flavor or just by color—to nuts, halvah, and chocolate-covered everything. There are also everyday chocolate bars like Baby Ruth, Butterfinger, and M&Ms (available in bulk or in five-pound bags). If you’ve never tried Canadian chocolate bars like Coffee Crisp, Aero, and Crispy Crunch, you’re in for a treat.

If the aroma of fresh waffle cones causes a pause on your downtown stroll, you've probably hit one of central Oregon's favorite soda fountain and candy shops. Try the Oreo cookie ice cream, a local favorite, or the homemade chocolate. If you purchase a stuffed toy animal that calls the store home, expect for it to smell sweet for weeks to come.

Come here for chocolate frogs, every-flavor jelly beans, exploding bonbons, and many other as-seen-in-the-movies treats.

Fudge, chocolate, caramel corn, ice cream, and taffy are some of the sweet reasons to visit this family-run shop, open all year (no ice cream in winter). The front of the store is devoted to display cases of fine chocolates and old-fashioned "penny" candy. Some of the chocolates (caramels, fudge, filled chocolates) and all of the saltwater taffy and ice cream are made in-house. In the back are gifts galore: sea glass ornaments, Cape-made soap, lobster-printed onesies, and other items with a beach vacation theme. Take a selfie out front with Bert, the big stuffed bear, propped on a bench. 

Specializing in gummies—the kind that will only give you a sugar high—this jewel-box-size sweet shop stocks chewy morsels from Sweden, Spain, Germany, France, Australia, and Brazil, among other locations, with taste profiles ranging from sweet to sour to fruity. 

Every day till midnight, all manner of M&M's merchandise is sold here—a slot machine that dispenses M&M's jackpots is a best seller—and the popular candy may be purchased by the pound. Four air-conditioned levels of colorful, milk-chocolate goodies attract crowds of families with children (and strollers). Those who use the personalized printing machine can create and print custom messages on M&M's, or select from 14 Las Vegas images (the "Welcome to Las Vegas" sign or a deck of cards).  

If you're bored with the handful of colors you normally find in a pack of M&Ms, head to this impressively large store, which is filled with candies in hues that include maroon, silver, white, dark blue, midnight black, and every shade in between. In addition to a candy counter filled with a dazzling range of sweets there are shelves and displays stacked with M&M–themed merchandise including golf balls, baby clothes, apparel, and accessories. You may need an insulin shot after this one.

Stop here for melt-in-your-mouth pralines, bear claws, fudge, and the famous glazed pecans—cinnamon and sugar is the favorite. It's a sister location of Savannah's River Street Sweets.

There is truly nothing sweeter than a cellophane bag tied with colorful ribbon and filled with malt balls or floral meringues from this Insta-friendly candy and pastry store. Grab a gingerbread cupcake or a tantalizing macaron or some shortbread. The pastel-color cake stands make even window shopping a treat.