Sour Goodbye For A Sweet Store

Sweet Sensations, the neighborhood candy shop, has closed its doors. It’s official, the chocolate-brewing, ice-cream-making boutique of 86th Street has gone out of business.

The store, which is also referred to as “Nuts & Candy” by its dim red awning at 2079 86th Street, has been closed for approximately a month.

Sweet Sensations was nestled between Bay 26th Street and 21st Avenue for close to 30 years. Still, some local proprietors did not seem startled by its unexpected shut down.

Benny Zekiy said that he wasn’t surprised to learn of the close. Zekiy is the owner of ZuZu, a formal dress outlet adjacent to the candy store.

“Everything is shutting down,” Zekiy said. “Business is terrible.”

Zekiy pointed to the general decline in Bensonhurst’s small business success. Because the community demographics are changing, the stores that people want to shop at are different now, he said. According to Zekiy, this means that stores like Sweet Sensations can no longer find the revenue to make ends meet.

But he can only speculate. Despite several attempts to communicate with the owner of Sweet Sensations, the Bensonhurst Bean was unable to make contact.

Still, the neighborhood candy store seemed well-liked by locals. It had three reviews and scored 4.5 out of 5 stars on Yelp.

Stephanie B. from Brooklyn, NY commented on Yelp, “This place is an old mom and pop store, which you really don’t see in New York anymore. Candy stores like Dylan’s and It’s Sugar have invaded these types of sweet shops, but it’s nice to see one still standing in the Bensonhurst area of Brooklyn.”

Unfortunately for Stephanie and the rest of the candy shop’s fans, the store is no longer standing. Whether it’s due to bad business or simply a changing of the times, the facts remain unclear.

There are no news yet of another vendor taking over Sweet Sensations’ spot in the community.