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Chocolate Fans Sweet on Easter Shopping

By Trevor Kapp | April 5, 2012 6:30am
The chocolate eggs are among the most popular Easter items at The London Candy Co. on the Upper East Side.
The chocolate eggs are among the most popular Easter items at The London Candy Co. on the Upper East Side.
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DNAinfo/Trevor Kapp

MANHATTAN — For $150, Gill Mackay could’ve purchased an unlimited MetroCard and 19 additional swipes, five tickets to see the Yankees or even a round-trip flight from LaGuardia to Washington, D.C.

Instead, she used the cash for candy.

Mackay was at the Upper East Side's London Candy Co. recently, stocking up on Cadbury Dairy milk chocolate, white chocolate eggs and a Crunchie bar in preparation for Easter.

"It’s what you grow up with — hide the Easter eggs at the end of the bed and wake up to find them," said Mackay, 39, a stay-at-home mom from the Upper East Side who was buying the treats for her 9- and 5-year-old sons and their teachers.

"It’s the one day of the year you get away with having chocolate for breakfast."

Mackay was one of many New Yorkers splurging on Easter sweets in the days before Easter.

Their preferences varied from simple liquorice to fancy dark chocolate truffles. Some bought for friends, others for their children. A Hell’s Kitchen man admitted treating himself.

"Easter is about family, church and the candy, but mostly the candy," joked Ben Sulzbachi, 33, who works for a removal company, as he exited the London Candy Company after a buying a Galaxy chocolate caramel egg for $2.50.

At Max Brenner Chocolate Shop in Union Square, Joel Schoenecker had difficulty choosing between milk chocolate, dark chocolate truffles and chocolate ganache — so he went with all three.

"It’s not Easter without chocolate," said Schoenecker, 50, a New York University administrator from West Harlem.

"And this place is classier," he added. "I always go all out for Easter."

Across town, at the Swedish candy store Socerbit in the West Village, Peter Tran scrolled through several long text messages, some with photos, from his wife detailing her requests.

Tran, 44, an ad salesman from the Upper West Side, purchased several bags of eggs, marshmallows, fudge and gummy worms.

"Certain things, she just has to have," he said.