Great Escape: Coastside Edition

Gobstoppers, gummy bears and licorice shoelaces. Caramel, jellybeans and nonpareils. Dutch mints, candy-coated almonds and malt balls. Take your pick from sweets, sours, gummies, gumballs, licorice and chocolates.

The Candy Store has it all.

Celebrating their fourth year of business this month, the store is San Francisco’s premier candy boutique. It's teeming with sweet goodies that promise to take you to another world and make your trip a sweet one.

Owners Diane and Brian Campbell carry hard-to-find nostalgic items from long-established candy makers, as well as the latest products from new artisan confectioners.

Old-fashioned candy jars line the shelves behind the register and are stocked with the finest chocolates from around the world, and nostalgic treats you probably haven't seen in years like Mallo Cups, Candy Buttons, Pixy Stix, Fun Dip, Wax Bottles, Necco Wafers, Big League Chew and Candy Watches.

The Candy Store also has candies from Britain for an across-the-pond experience, a licorice collection that will have you in heaven and some of the finest chocolates located in one place.

Some of the Candy Store’s signature items include an acrylic cocktail shaker filled with chocolate “olives” (a French confection of almond and hazelnut nougat covered with white and dark chocolate), a takeout container of “river stones” (realistic candy rocks filled with apricot paste, marzipan, almonds and chocolate), an eight-piece box of chocolate covered caramels topped with fleur de sel from V Chocolates, handmade marshmallows from LA's Bon Bon Bar, and fine marzipan fruit.

Probably one of the all time best items, though, is the salted chocolate nut caramallows wrapped in wax paper made by the Bon Bon Bar in San Francisco. For $3 each, the sticky sweet and savory square melt in your mouth and are so satisfying.

After your visit, hit the local boutiques. The area offers some of San Francisco’s best dining and shopping.

The Candy Store is located at 1507 Vallejo Street (at Polk) in San Francisco and is open every day from 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. If you can't make it into the store, call or e-mail to order. The Candy Store has a number of gift boxes for sale that they can ship right to you or to someone else as a gift. To order, call 415-921-8000 or e-mail your order to info@thecandystoresf.com.