Life at Grand Traverse Resort & Spa got a little bit sweeter on November 1, when the Acme, Mich.-based resort opened Dylan’s Candy Bar, a high-end candy destination featuring a selection of sweets that would stun even Willy Wonka.
Created by CEO Dylan Lauren, the daughter of fashion icon Ralph Lauren and photographer and author Ricky Lauren, Dylan’s Candy Bar celebrates pop culture, style, and sugar all whirled together. Lauren’s first shop opened in New York City in 2001 and today, she has Candy Bars located in East Hampton, Roosevelt Field, Orlando and Houston.
Lauren’s shops are selective about placement, and having one at Grand Traverse is quite a coup. It all came about quickly following a trip to Lauren’s Manhattan store by Kiley Park, retail buyer at the resort.
“I visited her store and was really impressed,” Park tells The Ticker in Traverse City, Mich. “I contacted [the parent company] and expressed an interest in having Dylan’s Candy Bar here at the resort. Dylan is very particular about her stores, and they came here for a visit. They’ve been fantastic to work with.”
After a few weeks of negotiations, Lauren gave final approval, and plans began to turn a former empty area into a color-splashed candyland.
Now open for business, the 1,300-sq. ft. store in the Gallery of Shops features the signature colors of turquoise and pink, along with an 18-foot chocolate wall loaded with bulk and packaged chocolate. There are three seven-foot-tall lollipop trees, each with 200 lollipops in a variety of flavors and colors; and an eight-foot-tall chocolate bar tree, with over 700 of Dylan’s signature chocolate bars.
In addition to the sweets, there is also a line of candy-inspired beauty products (chocolate cupcake shower gel or strawberry licorice candy lip balm, anyone?) as well as other, apparel, souvenirs, and gifts—all candy-inspired, of course.
Adding to the sugar rush, the grand opening of Dylan’s Candy Bar on November 20 at the resort included a “Sweet-Stakes” drawing, where one lucky sugar-hound won an overnight stay in a “Sweet Suite” at Grand Traverse.
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