There is a queue for candies at Cittar in Kouvola.
Henriikka Mäkinen has a reason to smile, because the candy buffet she devised has been a success. K-Citymarket in Kouvola
The sweets section of Kouvola’s K-Citymarket has been on the lips or at least in the conversations of all candy fans this year.
Queues have certainly not been avoided when everyone wants their share of the hits.
Kouvola Cittar department manager Henriikka Mäkinen was the first in Finland to bring larger batches of the Swedish Bubs candy, which became wildly popular on social media, to the grocery store.
– In mid-December, I saw on social media that Bubs’ own store had opened in Stockholm. I wanted to bring it to us in some form as well, Mäkinen tells Iltalehte on the phone.
This week, the Bubs buffet is for the fourth time at Cittari in Kouvola. K-Citymarket in Kouvola
Since Mäkinen had a free hand from the merchant side and the supplier was ready, the first Bubs buffet was already open before New Year’s Eve. Back then, there were 100 kilos of candies and they were all sold out in seven hours.
Since then, there have been two buffets, each of which sold 300 kilos of candy in one day.
This week, there will be a fourth candy buffet, after which Mäkinen believes that his dream of selling a thousand Bubs candy kilos has come true.
Mäkinen states that the customers’ unprecedented interest in these Swedish candies is due to the power of social media.
– Bubs candies started trending on social media when a Nordic candies store opened in New York. That started a boom, which grew with Stockholm’s own Bubs store.
These Bubs are the most popular. K-Citymarket in Kouvola
Bubs are not a completely new acquaintance, as they are in Candy King’s loose candy selections. According to Mäkinen, the foamy and tangy candies are now quickly sold out even in Candy King’s selections, which have a few Bubs flavors.
– The demand is so strong.
Despite that, Finns have been queuing up for their own hit candies calmly, no fistfights around the candies have been seen. Instead, the customers have been talking to each other and were in a good mood.
According to Mäkinen, there is no limit to the purchase quantities. Some have several kilos in the bag, some more moderately.
The most popular candy, somewhat surprisingly, has been the same one that is also in Candy King’s selections, i.e. the blue Bubble gum skull. The new flavors banana toffee and pomegranate are also popular in Finland.
The demand for Swedish candies is stronger than what we can supply. Mäkinen laughs that the phone has been picking up hard, because other shops have asked where the Bubs were purchased.
Although the Bubs buffet is popular, it will not become a permanent element in Kouvola’s Citymarket. There will only be individual lots of candies, as their availability is currently low. Mäkinen reminds that the buffet is open again this week.
Be the first to report on the candy buffet Kouvola Sanomat.