CORONA DEL MAR TODAY

B.Candy Opens New Location Today

Ten weeks after closing a smaller shop down the street, B.Candy opened this morning at 3100 East Coast Highway, selling house-made baked goods and ice creams, gifts and (of course) candy.

“I love these chocolates,” said the first customer, 3-year-old Ryder Thomas, who bounced from pumpkins to lollypops to birthday candles to Spiderman candies.

“He’s been dying for this to open,” said his father, Ramsey Thomas. “He’s been peeking under the tarps, looking at the cupcake. When he saw they were unveiled, he literally ran in. We’ll be spending some time here for sure.”

Owner Brandy Valdez said that opening a candy store had been a childhood dream, and when her youngest son was in kindergarten, he spurred her to begin making it real. In April 2011, a small shop opened at 3617 East Coast Highway, but there was no room for an ice cream soda fountain or for an in-house bakery.

The new shop is four times bigger than the old space and includes exterior cupcakes, gum balls and lollypop decorations that were custom made in Temecula by a company that designs for Legoland, Valdez said. Inside, cupcake stools line the counter, and inset into the floor are custom tiles from Italy, shaped like colorful candies filled with liquids that move when you step on them.

Items on display include bacon toothpaste, Halloween hot chocolate (colored blood red), pillows shaped like cupcakes and donuts and a wall of dispensers filled with gum balls, gummy candies, chocolates and more.

“One little girl came in and said, ‘It’s just magical…’” Valdez said. “Thats the best part…”

Taking time to make sure all the details were exactly what she wanted was worth it, she added.

“It looks great. It looks sweet. It has turned out exactly how I wanted,” she said. “I was from Fresno…I had a lot of dreaming to do.”

A grand opening party is scheduled Nov. 3.

B.Candy is a Corona del Mar Today advertiser.