A question about candy
A regular reader emailed me with this question, and says I can pose it to the blog:
Back in the day – I want to say it stopped being a thing maybe 20 years ago – but back in the day in Quebec grocery stores, particularly the big chains (Metro, Super C, Steinbergs etc), did they not all have big bins of individually wrapped candies, generally up at the front or in the ‘en vrac’ sections?
I feel like both the en vrac section and those bins of candies were once ubiquitous and then disappeared completely.
What I’m trying to figure out is who was making those candies and whether they went out of business. My guess is they were a Quebec business, because I can’t remember ever seeing them elsewhere. There were hard shelled soft centred fruit flavoured ones I can’t find anywhere. But they also had various mints and caramels too. I don’t recall chocolates, and I know they also sold lozenges that deceptively looked like the other candies. My grandmother kept an assortment of these assorted candies in candy dishes throughout the house. They were also, I recall, the ‘poor man’s Halloween candy.’
I’m sure I didn’t dream all this up, I’d pay good money to have some of those candies again. I’m convinced a business must have gone under in the late-90s or early oughts and that explains the demise of this once ubiquitous feature of local supermarkets.
I told him I don’t remember this, but maybe someone here does?
Ephraim 18:53 on 2024-11-21 Permalink
I think they were Kerr’s. The last one to have them was Super C before COVID.
Josh 18:55 on 2024-11-21 Permalink
I seem to remember the same thing existing when I grew up in Ontario. Bulk Barn was a thing when I was young there and I think it still is, and I think the other major chains had bulk sections, including some national brand candies (like Hershey’s Kisses for example, or individually-wrapped caramels), as well as stuff like chocolate-coated nuts and various stuff like that.
Maybe over time these sections just became less profitable for the chains? Maybe in some instances (like in the case of the nuts) allergies did them in?
EmilyG 19:32 on 2024-11-21 Permalink
They have Bulk Barns here in Montreal. I live near one.
jeather 20:14 on 2024-11-21 Permalink
I remember them too; they also existed in American grocery stores. No idea what the brand was
Ian 20:14 on 2024-11-21 Permalink
There’s one at Marché Centrale.
Kevin 20:30 on 2024-11-21 Permalink
Dare made a lot of those candies, as did Kraft. I last saw them at Loblaws at St Jacques pre-Covid.
JP 20:49 on 2024-11-21 Permalink
I remember seeing this. My clearest recollection is from the md-to-late 90s.at Steinberg/Metro in Rockland’s (what’s now Pharmaprix I think). It was right after the produce section in the back. I remember one of the staff once thought I was stealing (I wasn’t) and my mom defended me saying I would never do that. In any case, I remember the displays being pretty colorful! Unfortunately, I don’t remember much about the specific brands.
Ian 21:17 on 2024-11-21 Permalink
Kresge’s used to have somethign similar, but that’s been a while. Sadly the old Steinberg’s sign is being taken down. The Pharmaprix had a fire and the pharmacy has been in the parking lot across the street in a trailer for a few months while the old building gets renovated.
dhomas 22:33 on 2024-11-21 Permalink
These definitely existed. I remember they used to have a coin slot so you could pay 10¢ for a single candy to eat while you shopped. Worked on the honour system. I don’t remember the brand or specific candy, though. I can’t seem to find a picture of it, either.
Marc 00:53 on 2024-11-22 Permalink
You’re thinking of Trebor Pick ‘n Mix candies. They appeared around 1970 and were made by the Allan candy co. at their plant in Granby, licensing the Trebor brand from its British parent (which I think was Bassett’s). In 2010, Allan changed the brand to Saybon and they were quietly discontinued a few years later citing sagging sales. Allan was acquired by Hershey’s in 2015. They were sold by weight and you would simply pull a produce bag off the roll and fill up as desired. And as dhomas mentioned, the display had a metal coin box asking for a dime if you wanted to get just one. Kerr’s and Dare had similar things but they were more common in Ontario.
If you’re a Gen-X baby as I am, these candies were likely a fixture at your grandparents’ place. Both my maternal British and de-souche Québecoise paternal grandmothers always had them in the candy dish on the coffee table. I bought a small mix bag for myself every month right up till they vanished. Amazing how supermarket bulk candy can rekindle many memories.
Simon 07:08 on 2024-11-22 Permalink
I remember those very well, they were my first shoplifting experience, at a Metro grocery store around age 10 (so 1990-ish). Those that I remember best were a hard white mint ball with red streaks along the sides, wrapped with a transparent plastic twisted at both ends in classic cartoon-style candy shape.
And yes my grandparents had a dish of them on the coffee table 🙂
dwgs 08:28 on 2024-11-22 Permalink
When my kids (now 18 and 22) were young I would give them each a dime or a quarter to put in the box at Loblaws / Provigo and tell them they couldn’t take more than three each. Can’t remember when they disappeared but it must have been in the last eight years or I would have heard about it.
Nicholas 11:28 on 2024-11-23 Permalink
Lest anyone think these cheap candies were only targeted at some income groups, the Steinberg’s in Westmount had them, though I believe they got rid of them around the time it became a Metro in the early 90s or so. They took up probably 10-15 linear feet in the produce section. (To be fair, Westmount was much more diverse income-wise back then, and that store served a lot of workers at lunch; there are lots of smaller homes, and before they were bought up by the top of the income distribution there were a decent amount of residents living in poverty. I have a friend living across from the library who’s paying about $800 a month for a 1-1/2 today, and a friend who’s a real estate agent said in October 1995 you could buy a mansion at the top of Westmount for $250,000.)
Josh, as EmilyG says, there are Bulk Barns around Montreal, though most are in the suburbs. The one in the Faubourg, next to Guy, is a must-stop whenever I’m in the area.
Thanks for all the info, all, especially Marc.
Joey 19:23 on 2024-11-23 Permalink
You couldn’t find a more perfect example of an outlier than the sale price of a Westmount mansion in October 1995.
Nicholas 10:45 on 2024-11-24 Permalink
If only my allowance money was enough to buy real estate rather than candy, I’d be rich now. Decent chance we’ll have another referendum in the next five years.