Why not just make the whole mall from chocolate?

Why not just make the whole mall from chocolate?

Hershey’s has a new chocolate store in Dubai Mall, and Kipp is starting to feel queasy. All this candy… when will enough be enough?

June 15, 2010 5:12 by shafeer

Kipp is often bewildered when it visits Dubai Mall. The shopping center of monolithic proportions is hard enough to navigate, of course, but lately we’ve been struck by another mysterious phenomenon. Deep within the mall, at its heart, the supposed main attraction – the 10 million liter aquarium – is quietly being upstaged.

While visitors flock to see the 33,000 fish, after a minute or two most of them find their attention drifting towards the other attraction nearby. Lured by the bright colors and irresistible smell, most of them find themselves in Candylicious before they even know it.

The self-proclaimed largest sweet shop in the world is always packed, and Kipp is not surprised. Confectionery sales in the UAE were worth an estimated Dh1.1 billion (US$299.4 million) last year, with chocolate representing about Dh730m, according to research firm Euromonitor.

More than a billion dirhams. On Candy. In the UAE alone. Kipp wonders how much of that spend is going through the tills at Candylicious?

Well now it has some competition, in the shape of the Hershey’s Chocolate World, a new store that has just launched with a “soft opening” in the mall, says the National.

Except it turns out it’s not competition. The company behind the new Hershey’s store is the same one behind the infamous Candylicious, and it sees no slowdown in the market on the horizon. In fact, it has big plans for making the most of its franchise rights. The Hershey’s store could be the first of as many as 25 (count them, 25) stores in the Middle East over the next five years. And for Candylicious, there could be 15 more stores on the way.

If it wasn’t for the UAE heat, we get the feeling they’d happily build the whole mall out of chocolate. Kipp thinks they should bear one thing in mind, though: As much as we love candy, too much makes you sick. The appeal of Candylicious is that it’s unique. Make 15 more, and you might just find that popularity wanes.