The Definitive Guide to Living in the Capital , Cairo , Egypt

We all get sugar cravings that demand instant gratification, but fancy desserts are not always the answer. Sometimes, the nagging child within us occasionally craves sugary delights in the form of gummy bears and lollipops.

The Candy Shop, with its bright sign and lighting, is quite the attraction in the always bustling Cairo Festival City Mall. As soon as we entered we found ourselves racing from shelf to shelf, letting go of any adult inhibition, trying to explore all of the candy options available. With big names like Haribo, Loacker, Chupa Chups, Wonka, Hershey’s, and Twizzlers, amongst many others, the store is overflowing with well-known and much loved brands of candy.

One stand, however, caught our eye: the Salt Water Taffy stand, which is situated in the middle of the store, offering a few flavours, including Vanilla, Chocolate-Mint, Strawberry, Mocha, and Watermelon, of the delicious treats (9.5 LE/ 100g). You get to handpick your own flavours and place them in a bag, which is then weighed at the cashier, as explained by our helpful sales personnel. We may or may not have gotten carried away with this.

We also spotted a stand displaying Cavandish and Harvey fruit-flavoured candy drops (15.75 LE/ box). The true highlights of all displays, however, were the Jelly Beans (24 LE/100g) and M&Ms (30 LE/100g) displays, which consisted of big tubes containing the colourful candies, from which you fill your bag with.

Chocoholics rejoice, for we spotted an abundance of chocolates, and chocolate-flavoured delicacies strewn around the store, from imported Cadbury, Milka, Kinder and Hershey’s chocolate bars to Guylian chocolate boxes to the coveted Hershey’s chocolate syrup.

Candy-themed merchandise is also offered by the truly nostalgia-inducing store including M&Ms t-shirts, and cartoon-themed chocolate calendars, as well as Disney-themed Cake Decoration tools, and adorable snowman mugs.

All in all, we had lots of fun twirling around the Candy Shop, pretending that we were six again, and picking out are favourite candies. The shop’s meticulousness and organization made the whole experience all the more pleasant, as did the delightfully helpful but in no way irksome staff.