Strawberry Dreams, fizzy melon bombs, Rambos, and Bubs: Rittenhouse’s new-school candy store stocks trendy sweets and classics, too
All Aboard Candy’s customers range “from a 3-year-old to people in walkers.”
Pink and polished, Rittenhouse Square’s All Aboard Candy store doesn’t have old-school confectionery vibes, but the names of the products that fill its bulk bins sound like they’re straight out of Willy Wonka’s factory. There are Dizzy Skulls, Strawberry Dreams, Rambo bites, sour belts, Swedish diamond rings, rainbow bricks, Pucker-Up Lips, fruity fizzy beans, and several variations of Bubs.
These colorful sweets, many imported from Europe, command a hardcore set of followers. Since All Aboard opened at 20th and Locust Streets in June 2025, the shop has sold tens of thousands of pounds of candy from its gummy wall alone. Customers call in regularly to inquire what flavors and shapes are in stock — and they keep All Aboard’s three-woman team on its toes.
“If you don’t have the [Swedish candy brand] Bubs in the store, then people give you bad Google reviews,” said co-owner Alyssa Bonventure. “The Bubs fly off the shelves.”
All Aboard is part of a wave of new-school candy stores that are springing up in cities all over the country. A trend that was seeded pre-pandemic then exploded in the TikTok era, the shops deal in often-imported gummy candies. (Though All Aboard sells candy made in the U.S., Spain, Australia, Spain, Turkey, and more, “Swedish candy” is a good catchall term.) Their ingredients are “cleaner” than, say, your average gelatin-based bear or worm. Many are vegan, and some are low-sugar.
Bonventure demonstrated, picking up a bag of BonBon Sour Blackberry Fish, which are actually made in Sweden (vs. the conglomerate-owned Swedish Fish, which are largely produced in Canada and Turkey). She read the end of the ingredient list: “Made with black carrot concentrate [for color], natural blackberry flavors, coconut oil,” she said. “It’s not made with whatever dyes and chemicals.”
In the gummy-candy world, fruit flavors predominate. Think strawberry, watermelon, peach, raspberry, cherry, apple, and blue raspberry, accented by more offbeat combos like banana toffee and sour cola. Some shapes, like skulls, are popular year-round, but seasons bring fun candy shapes. In summer, it’s ice cream cones, starfish, seashells, and lobsters; in winter, it’s trees, snowmen, mittens, snowballs, dreidels, snowflakes. Halloween sees bats, pumpkins, brains, and teeth, while Easter ushers in eggs, bunnies, and carrots.
The selection at All Aboard changes weekly. The shop replenishes its supply — sourced from individual brands as well as candy distributors — on a near-daily basis. “We’ve never had a customer say our candy is stale,” said Bonventure. “A lot of the bigger stores have warehouses ... we just have the basement storage. That’s why we get deliveries every week vs. every month or every quarter.”
As you might expect, the customer age demographic is sprawling: “It literally ranges from like a 3-year-old to people in walkers,” Bonventure said. “You’re laughing, but I’m not kidding.”
All Aboard sells its bulk candy by weight ($4.85 per 4 ounces), going through anywhere from 330 pounds to 800 pounds a week, depending on time of year.
“You can come in here and spend 50 cents, or some people spend up to $300,” Bonventure said. “Some people will come in and get five pieces.”
Unlike many of the new-school candy shops, All Aboard stocks plenty of chocolate and traditional candy brands, too. You can find high-end chocolate (including locally made Eclat) and fancy Danish licorice, as well as Laffy Taffy, mini M&Ms, Charleston Chews, Ring Pops, and other ordinary offerings. Bonventure said it’s an effort to keep the experience approachable for all shoppers.
“Sometimes kids that are younger are very intimidated by this wall, and they just run over there and they pick, like, an Airhead,” she said.
In the time since All Aboard has opened at 233 S. 20th St., right next door to 1-900-ICE-CREAM, Bonventure has gotten used to seeing kids and their parents negotiate.
“There’s a lot of meltdowns. [Parents will] be like, ‘You can either get candy or ice cream,’” she said.
She’s learned to refrain from offering a solution: “I’m like, ‘Oh, is it a money thing? You can have it for free.’ They’re like, ‘No, it’s a sugar thing.”
Get a goodie bag from All Aboard Candy at The Inquirer’s Food Fest on Nov. 14. They’ll be on site at the Fillmore with an exclusive pick-and-mix selection for subscribers.
