IT’SUGAR

While walking around Fashion Island Sunday killing some time before for our reservations to Canaletto Ristorante Veneto, the better half «coaxed» me into checking out IT’SUGAR.
IT’SUGAR is a candy specialty store started in 2006 by Jeff Rubin. It has over 80 locations in the United States including Los Angeles, New York City and San Francisco and an international presence is places like Panama, Venezuela and Grand Cayman. They have gained notoriety with their «supersized» sweets including the World’s Largest Boxes of Nerds and Sour Patch Kids. IT’SUGAR also boasts oversized candies like 1 Lb. Reece’s Peanut Butter Cups and 5 Lb. Gummy Bears. The basic premise is that bigger is truly better! For those of you who are into the old school candies, IT’SUGAR offers a good selection of candies from as far back as the 1950’s. They have also expanded their market into branded home goods, clothing and accessories.
IT’SUGAR storefront (
) is a subtle reminder that Valentine’s Day is just around the corner. Inside some of the shelves contain some of their oversized candies (
) including a yard long Twix and another shelf contains some prepackage Valentine’s Day items (
) and some not so edible Sweethearts pillows. The store is organized with the bulk candy in sections by candy type and it is easy to see what offerings are on the shelves.
In the middle of the store you will find a good selection of candies by the pound (
) including the aforementioned (
) Reece’s Peanut Butter Cups. The bulk candy comes in 88 flavors and is $ 13.96 per pound ($ 3.49 per quarter pound) and there is an offer (
) which allows to fill a sturdy container with your favorites sweets for a dollar more than the bulk price. I am not sure how much candy the contain holds so I can’t say if you are getting a deal, but it does offer an interesting idea for a gift. I found the bulk price to be reasonable especially considering this store is located in Fashion Island.
For some reason, once I enter a candy store, it is hard for me to leave without getting a bag of «sugar rush» to go. My better half tempted me (like I need to be tempted) further by proclaiming the sweets were «on her.» Not wanting to abuse her gesture, I managed to restrain myself by getting a small bag of Chocolate Peanut Butter Crunch Poppers (
) which has the same texture as a malt ball, some Cherry Fruit Sours and a few Gummy Twin Cherries. My haul was .84 pounds and cost my lovely wife $ 11.73 for some temporary happiness.
Rohlinism: You can place a price on temporary happiness!
The back of the store (
) has a display of «Retro Candy» as well as a shelf of old school candies against the far wall. Looking at such old faves as Pop Rocks, Goo Goo Clusters, Zotz and Candy Cigarettes will bring Baby Boomer and the Generation X crowds back to their childhoods.
One thing IT’SUGAR has over most candy shops is freshness. Most bulk candy shops don’t change the candy on a regular basis so it is a real crap shoot if you are going to get fresh or stale candy. I have sampled all three of my bulk candy choices at this point and none of them were stale or lacking in flavor. It is less than pleasurable when you pop a gummy in your mouth and it feels like you are gnawing on a hard eraser!
The service at this location is what I would expect for a candy shop. We were greeted when we entered, asked if we needed any assistance (I really don’t need another enabler) and left us to our own devices once we declared assistance wasn’t required.
I was thinking how IT’SUGAR fits into an outdoor mall with the likes of Neiman Marcus and Bloomingdales, but I imagine that sugar cravings don’t recognize social class and the white collar crowd can definitely afford the candies here more easily than this blue collar schlub, so IT’SUGAR should fit right in at Fashion Island.

I can’t believe I didn’t notice this store earlier. Full of vintage candy and unique gift items, this store is quite a find!
You might get sugar shock from just looking into the store. The memories of the fun candy I had as a kid, and even some current favorites, made this store irresistibly nostalgic. I also spotted some Ugly Christmas Sweaters and other fun gift items.
Although I didn’t really get the chance to really interact with the sales associates on this visit, they seemed to be happily ringing up the customers’ items. They appeared friendly, helpful, and thoroughly energetic.
I really appreciated those beautiful window displays and all those wonderful, brightly colored candies. Although I’m not allowed to eat the amount of candy I did when I was young, I’ll be able to enjoy buying the unique items for family and friends in the future.
With a great selection of candy, this will be a fun place to shop as it gets closer to Christmas!

Although I do not have craving for sweets I enjoy coming to this place. I always find little cool things to buy for friends. They sell more than candies: t-​shirts, funny fridge magnets, small toys. The staff is very friendly.

It the cutest store with so many things to see but it pretty pricey. I also thought their candy looks better then it tastes. I do love their little gift items it reminds me of urban outfitters .it a pretty modern store with bright colors and so many young teens on a Saturday night hanging out there .the employee was pretty nice considering no one brought anything

It’s Sugar has a huge variety of candy available but my favorite part of all is THE PEEPS MARSHMALLOW PLUSH! I can’t find any other store that has such a variety of peeps marshmallow plushes available at Easter time. Great for Peeps marshmallow plush collectors who don’t want to shop online!!!

I was there tonight with a friend. Decided to but a small bag of candy. Sour candy to be exact. The purchase was mainly for the experience due to a very cute colorful store. Unfortunately I just munched on some stale, rock hard candy, in which I’m positive the texture isn’t normally like that. $ 5 waste of money and I won’t be returning.
The service? That was ok. The low stars are only for the candy quality!..

This is a super fun candy store. Been to the one in DC and this one is about the same.
Really like coming in here and looking at all the unique candy. Like the giant candy bars and interesting gummy bear flavors.
The sales associate was really nice. They have pop music blasting in the background and it makes you want to dance.
The store is colorful, clean, and new.
You come in here and you just have to smile. Haha.

Cute place with tons of awesome candy! Bulk candy, unique candy, vintage candy, gummies, chocolate, huge candy, sodas, etc.
Favorites:
Chocolate Covered Banana Flavored Gummy Bears
Raspberry Gumdrop with Bebbles
Coca-​Cola Gummy
Chicken Feet Gummy (doesn’t taste like chicken feet lol)
Energy Gummy Bears (really does give you a boost of energy~!)
The staff here is really friendly and nice. She helped me to find unique, strange candies to share with my coworkers! I also found cute items for my desk (mushroom sour candy, pac-​man ghost mints, harry potter jelly beans, and schwetty balls from SNL!). Love this place! I am definitely returning to get Christmas presents for my friends!

This place is so adorable
Love your sugar? They have giant size candies, rice krispie treats, lollipops and marshmallow bunny pillows
I got myself chocolate gummy bears, brownie chocolate balls, chocolate cake balls, and beer jelly beans. $ 3.24 for ¼ lb and $ 6.28 for ½ lb
I can hear my dentist yelling @ me
Mmmm I don’t care: P
I can also hear this song in my head
Sugar, ah, honey honey
You are my candy girl
And you got me wanting you
3.5 stars!
It’s sugar is kinda yummylicious!

Customer service was beyond horrible, especially the associate Sierra who made my shopping experience from beginning to end unpleasant. If associate hates their job they should rethink about the job and look else where. Candies are candies to everyone but the experience itself is what worth paying for.
In a nutshell will not be returning!!! This is coming from someone who worked in retail and good service so please take notice.

I’ve been here a few times, but never bought anything because it is so over-​priced. They do have some funny joke gifts and items you can’t find at target but for the most part I won’t shop here because it is way too expensive.

I love candy they pretty much had everything I wanted. They even close at 930 which is amazing.

Fun new addition to Fashion Island. This small store is packed with bulk candy, vintage candy, novelty items, gummy candies, unique sodas, chocolate, fun magnets, etc., etc. I liked the gigantic boxes of Mike & Ike and Hot Tamales.
They also had ginormous boxes of Rice Krispies Treats which are a great idea for making a giant Rice Krispies birthday cake for someone who is a fan.
With the many gummy candies and bulk candy and fun novelty candies, this is a place I will definitely bring my niece in the future.
There is pretty much something for every candy lover here. I was able to find some fun treats there.
Service was helpful and friendly. Enjoyed chatting about the fun stuff in the store with the employee who helped me. As if I don’t already have enough favorite sweets places in Fashion Island with Teuscher and Lette, IT’SUGAR can now be added to a my places to stop for yummy sweets while in Newport Beach.

Pretty sure the associate working there hated her job. Really how can anyone hate working at a candy store??? The store is adorable but the staff definitely need an attitude adjustment, customers shouldn’t be treated as an intrusion.

This bright, clean store will prove to be popular with the kids and the Fashion Island visitors. If you’re looking for the type of candy store experience that you get from Powell’s with a great supply of unique, old-​fashioned and hard to find candies, that’s not quite this place.
There’s also quite a bit of cute and gimmicky non-​candy items as well. If you’re simply looking to satisfy a quick sugar fix you will find ample ways to do so at this friendly and pleasant new addition to Fashion Island.