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Scary Amount of Candy Hits Manhattan Stores for Halloween

By DNAinfo Staff on October 11, 2011 7:00am  | Updated on October 11, 2011 7:13am

Chocolate Bar, on Eighth Avenue between Jane and West 12th streets, will have milk chocolate and dark chocolate candy corn bark ($6.50), chocolate-covered ghost and pumpkin marshmallow
Chocolate Bar, on Eighth Avenue between Jane and West 12th streets, will have milk chocolate and dark chocolate candy corn bark ($6.50), chocolate-covered ghost and pumpkin marshmallow "Peeps" ($4) and chocolate candy corn ghost lollypops ($2.50).
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Chocolate Bar

By Andrea Swalec and Amy Zimmer

MANHATTAN — As trick-or-treat time nears, New Yorkers on the hunt for specialty candies can find an array of options uptown or downtown that will delight the sweet teeth of little devils and witches.

"There is something deliciously fun for everyone in our Halloween collection," said Dylan Lauren, CEO of Dylan’s Candy Bar, at 1100 Third Ave. near 61st Street, whose offerings include a "Halloween Tackle Box" ($24) filled with Halloween standby candy corn and"bloody" dextrose bones, fudge-filled fangs and gummy brains.

Dylan's Candy Bar made some changes to its sweet roster for this year's holiday.

"Halloween last year was about vampires, but this year, beware — the new theme is zombies," Lauren said in a statement. "The spookiness and the nostalgia behind zombies appeals to both the young and old."

The Halloween Survival Kit ($55) from the London Candy Co. has a little of everything.
The Halloween Survival Kit ($55) from the London Candy Co. has a little of everything.
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London Candy Co.

The store, for instance, has a "Zombie Blood Energy Potion" ($6) in a biohazard-like package that promises to be a tasty lime energy drink.

In the West Village, the Christopher Street shop Sockertbit is hosting a Swedish-style Halloween. 

Owner Florence Ernberg said she's hoping to import a Swedish custom to the neighborhood for the month. 

"Swedes have a tradition that on Saturdays they can eat as much candy as they want," she said, describing lördags godis, which means "candy Saturday" in Swedish. 

Sockerbit, whose name is the Swedish term for "sugar cube," is tempting trick-or-treaters with "candy-bob" shish kabobs of gummy candy ($3.95) and gummy candy bouquets in small ($45) and large ($65) sizes. 

The 89 Christopher St. shop also has imported dark gray glass pumpkins ($28) that can be filled with candy.

At Martine's Chocolates, at 400 E. 82nd St. and inside Bloomingdale's on the sixth floor, owner Martine Leventer has added "cute" owls ($10.25) to her popular lollipops of ghosts, pumpkins, cats and bats.

"The lollipops, in general, are very popular," Leventer said. "And the eyeballs are a good seller. You open the box and it's looking at you."

Martine's also makes special order items, like a chocolate haunted house ($36.50), but said with the economic downturn, shoppers are looking for smaller items.

Her natural chocolates made with Belgian Callebaut couverture chocolate, French butter, fresh American cream and other fine ingredients, have been gaining popularity for Halloween.

"There seems to be more and more interest," she said. "When you have a party you want your guests to have good chocolate, and we have a good number of parents who want to give their kids good chocolate and make them used to it so they won't end up eating junk with chemicals."

Chocolate Bar, on Eighth Avenue between Jane and West 12th streets, will have milk chocolate and dark chocolate candy corn bark ($6.50), chocolate-covered ghost and pumpkin marshmallow "Peeps" ($4) and chocolate candy corn ghost lollypops ($2.50).

The shop's Pumpkin Spice Signature Bar, which is available in milk chocolate and 65 percent cacao varieties, is spiced with cinnamon, cloves, ginger and nutmeg. 

"Just like our favorite pie!" store staff said in a statement. 

The Halloween treats will be for sale beginning Oct. 15. 

On Hudson Street between Charles and West 10th streets, specialty food shop The Meadow will pass out mini dark Santander Columbian chocolates to trick-or-treaters haunting the West Village. 

The Meadow, which says it has the largest selection of artisan chocolate in the city, has several fall treats more suited to grownups' taste, including Komforte brand chocolates with graham biscotti and apple and cinnamon flavors, and Rogue Chocolatier's Sambirano bar of Madagascar cacao with notes of citrus, rum raisin and toast.

For those who still like the comfort of packaged candy from childhood, the London Candy Co. at 1442 Lexington Ave., near East 94th Street, has a new Halloween Survival Kit ($55) oveflowing with goodies — but, since the treats are imported from Britain, they're made with different ingredients (such as less corn syrup), owner Jigs Patel noted.

It's "designed for those looking to avoid disappointed children and guarantee neighborhood fame," Patel said. "It's filled with enough sugar straws, lollies, wine gums, boiled sweets, Cadbury's chocolate Buttons, Chocolate Eclairs, Magic Stars and Chomp bars for about 30 kids, depending on how generous you're feeling."