Unleash Your Inner Child
Offering a humorous escape from everyday life ever since it was founded in 2006, IT’SUGAR has become one of the largest specialty candy “retailtainers” in the world. In this interview, RLI catches up with CEO Jarett Levan to learn all about the company and how it continues to innovate.
More than just a candy store, IT’SUGAR is an experience! Known for their spectacular sugar innovations that celebrate light-hearted rebellion, IT’SUGAR aspires to a future where everyone has access to the pure joy that comes from indulging in a world with fewer rules and more sugar.
Launched 18 years ago, IT’SUGAR’s first store opened in Atlantic City, New Jersey on the boardwalk. Today the business operates 120 locations across 29 states and two countries and its mission remains the same, to offer a sweet and humorous escape from the norm and give customers the opportunity to choose the experience they want.
Their stores range in size from 1,000sq ft to 30,000sq ft and everything in-between, offering the opportunity to indulge, laugh out loud and be in a place where no judgement is given. It truly is a place to unleash your inner child.
The company’s store portfolio consists mainly of mall and outlet locations, followed by resort destinations and finally high street stores. This is reflected in their recent store openings, as they recently opened in North Park, Dallas, Texas a 3,000sq ft store in a very busy mall with a strong catchment that caters to families and households in the suburban market.
They also launched a new store on Michigan Avenue in Chicago, which Levan classes as a high street location which spans 6,000sq ft and is well-positioned amongst a lot of well-known retailers. Finally, they have opened their largest store-to-date, a 30,000sq ft branded department store at Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco, California. This store is a haven for candy lovers across three floors that features 300 bulk candy bins, a whole host of candy-themed activations and candy-adjacent products. Featuring a lollipop garden on entry, the site offers guests a unique candy-themed experience.
“In terms of new store openings, we have eight new sites in the pipeline between now and February. We have several opening in the New England region, including our first store in New Hampshire that will mark our 30th state,” explains Jarett Levan, CEO of IT’SUGAR. “In addition, there are several more stores opening in the Texas market, a store launching in St. Louis, Missouri, two openings in upstate New York and our overall plan is to open eight to ten stores a year.”
While the company is not currently looking for expansion outside of the US and Canada, Levan does highlight that there is plenty of white space for growth in its home market as well as Canada, which they have recently launched into with a store in the Western part of the country.
As we move onto discussing the development and evolution of new products and initiatives within IT’SUGAR, it offers the CEO a chance to highlight how things have altered in recent years. Instead of brainstorming in meetings like they have in the past, much of the business’s ideation comes from TikTok, social media and current trends, one of which is retro products.
“IT’SUGAR aspires to a future where everyone has access to the pure joy that comes from indulging in a world with fewer rules and more sugar.”
An example of this is retro sours, a product that was discontinued by Altoids around 14 years ago. IT’SUGAR negotiated an exclusive deal to bring it back in three flavours and it has been back on their shelves for the past few weeks… Levan says they are struggling to keep it there; such is the product’s popularity.
“We also have great relationships with the brands. We work with companies such as Haribo, OREO, Sour Patch Kids, Swedish Fish, M&M’s, Mars and Nerds to name a few, on things such as exclusive flavours or products that are non-edible, such as candles, sweatshirts, t-shirts, boxers or even oversized candy that is attributed to the brand,” Levan comments.
A major element of retail today is brand experience and offering an experience unlike any other goes a long way in ensuring repeat visits and customer loyalty. One of IT’SUGAR’s key experiences is their bulk bins of candy, of which they have around 20,000 across their store portfolio. Called ‘Chews Your Mix’, customers can scoop and choose their mix of candy in-store. All customers on entry are offered a sample and on exit they have the chance to purchase a charity pop, a lollipop where the proceeds from the purchase go to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Also they have different activations at different stores. “For example, at our 24,000sq ft store at the American Dream mall in New Jersey, there is the first and only OREO Café, which is an exclusive on the third floor of the store. We continue to do different things in different markets, all with the goal of offering unique and humorous experiences for all our guests,” Levan highlights.
As it nears the end of its second decade of operation, the company has found that by sticking to its core mission of offering humour and creativity to its guests, it has seen ongoing success and they are looking to continue this pattern moving forward.
The beginning of this article stated that the brand is more than a candy store and its partnerships with the likes of Netflix on the final season of Stranger Things and with Mattel on the upcoming Hot Wheels film that is coming out next year highlight this.
“Today about 30 per cent of what sell in stores is not candy, but candy adjacent and this idea of being more than candy is what drives us and motivates us. As we look to the future, staying on trend will be vital for us so we will continue to identify upcoming trends so that we can offer products to our customers that are timely, but also remain fun and humorous,” concludes Levan.
