I visited an American candy store in the UK for the first time, and found the products underwhelming and inferior to British sweets
Mikhaila Friel
- I visited an American Candy Store in Glasgow, Scotland, in the UK.
- While there I purchased a variety of well-known items, including Twinkies and Jolly Ranchers.
On July 7, I visited the American Candy Store in Glasgow, Scotland in the UK.
I was particularly excited about the visit, as I recently compared the US and UK versions of Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate bars and found the British version to be tastier. Since I haven't tried any other American candy, I was curious to see what it would be like.
The store is located on Buchanan Street, a busy shopping area in Glasgow, Scotland's largest city. The street is primarily occupied by clothing stores and restaurants.
The store was new to town and only opened two weeks before my visit, a sales assistant working there told me after I arrived. He said that while most of the products are shipped from the US, they have items from other regions, including Canada and Europe.
This was evident when looking at the window display, which featured Tim Tam, an Australian chocolate biscuit brand.
I found the location of the American Candy Store amusing, as it's right next door to a Scottish tartan shop. There was also a bagpiper playing when I visited.
The interior of the store popped with color. It was filled with customers, despite it being the middle of a work day. From the conversations that I overheard, most people visiting the store seemed to be British.
Straight away, I recognized some of the US' most famous snacks, including this Cheetos display close to the entrance.
At the right of the store, there was a Hershey's display. While some UK supermarkets sell Hershey's chocolate bars, I had never seen the Hershey's milk chocolate kisses before, which cost £1.99, or $2.39.
There was a pick-and-mix section in the center of the room. I didn't spend too much time here as it's also common in the UK, where it's most often found at movie theaters.
I was surprised by the large size and price of some items. For example, a large box of Lucky Charms cereal cost £9.99, or around $11.98, and a large box of Chocolate Lucky Charms cost £7.99, or around $9.59.
The store appeared to charge a lot more than what the same products would typically sell for in US supermarkets. For example, Walmart sells a mega-size box of Lucky Charms for $5.98, which contains 29.1 ounces of cereal, according to Walmart's website. In comparison, the large-size box sold in the store I visited was smaller at 14.9 ounces.
Cereal tends to be a tad cheaper in the UK. The British supermarket Tesco sells a 720-gram box, or 25 ounces, of Kellog's Coco Pops for £3.50, or around $4.19.
I was surprised to see that the store sold savory items, too. A large bottle of Hidden Valley Ranch dressing cost £6.99, or around $8.40.
Again, the store seemed to charge slightly more than US supermarkets would. A 36-ounce bottle of the same product from Walmart costs $6.68.
Similar products are usually cheaper and come in smaller bottles when sold in the UK. For example, a 250 milliliter bottle, or 8 ounces, of Newmans Own Ranch Dressing from the supermarket Tesco costs £1.60, or around $1.90.
I was most excited to purchase a Twinkie since we don't have them in the UK and they have been mentioned in US pop culture through the years. There was a variety of flavors including original, banana, and mixed berry.
I purchased the original and the banana flavor, which cost £1.49, or around $1.80 each. Both were decent, although the creamy filling was saltier than I expected.
Original Twinkies have around 370 milligrams of sodium, or around 16% of a person's recommended daily intake, according to the website My Food Diary.
The only British alternative I could compare it to is a Victoria sponge, a sponge cake with a cream and jam filling. Most of these cakes are freshly made at bakeries and cafes in the UK, so the ingredients are better quality than those in Twinkies.
Twinkies also contain high fructose corn syrup, a sweetener that is not widely used in products sold in Europe and the UK, according to The Atlantic.
Just like the sales assistant mentioned, there was a wide variety of European snacks. The brand that stuck out to me was Haribo, a German candy brand known for its fruit gummies.
I was advised by an American colleague to try Sour Patch Kids, which she described as the US alternative to Haribo. I tried the original flavors, which cost £3.99, or around $4.80.
I enjoyed the combination of sour and sweet in the Sour Patch Kids. However, Haribo is superior in my opinion, as the individual candies are larger in size and have a softer texture, which I find to be more enjoyable to eat.
When I asked the sales assistant what the most popular items are, he recommended Jolly Rancher, which cost £5.99, or around $7.20, and Takis, which cost £1.99, or around $2.40.
The flavors of Jolly Ranchers included watermelon, green apple, green raspberry, and grape. While the hard candies were refreshing, the flavor was almost muted and slightly underwhelming.
I can understand why people enjoy Takis. The hot chili pepper and lime-flavored tortilla chips have an instant kick, but I'd find it difficult to eat more than a couple of these in one sitting due to the spiciness.
Overall, my trip to the American Candy Store was an enjoyable experience. And while I did enjoy some of the products, there was nothing that I would purchase again.
In my opinion, the products I tried don't compare to the selection of sweet treats we have in the UK. Dairy Milk and Haribo are my favorites, and the US alternatives — Hershey and Sour Patch Kids — just aren't as tasty.
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