The Best Candy Store Ever?

 

Whenever I travel I tend to visit candy and junk food sites. These sites could be historical, they could be a great shopping experience, or they could be just an amazing experience. Almost every place I visit sells candy in some way. Even the few candy museums I've been to tend to have some kind of shopping experience attached to them. The thing about the candy shopping experience is that it's rarely more than just a place to get exclusive or inexpensive treats. Sometimes there's a little decoration or theming, and that's fun, but it's never more than just decoration. There is however one candy store that has more, and that's the Fazer Cafe in Helsinki, Finland.

For those unfamiliar, Fazer is a chocolate company from Finland that may not be very well known in certain parts of the world, but in Northern Europe it's the top brand. It's the top brand for good reason too, I would rank it as one of the best mass produced chocolates in the world. It easily holds its own with brands like Cadbury. They also make some amazing bars with fascinating combinations, their licorice blend is surprisingly amazing. Fazer started in Helsinki by a Russian imigrant. The cafe in downtown Helsinki is not only their flagship store, but it's the original location.

The interesting thing about this cafe is that it's not completely chocolate bar themed. It's really a nice cafe where you can order a tasty sandwich or a classic cinnamon bun. Most of the cafe is actually still a cafe, and not a chocolate shop. According to the information at the cafe, this is how Fazer got its start, as a cafe that became famous for their chocolate treats. Eventually the chocolate treats became the main source of their business, but they've kept the cafe open, and selling nice baked goods and coffee. 

They also do sell chocolate, I would say that about one third of the cafe is dedicated to selling their chocolates and gummy candies. They offer all of the classic Fazer treats, but also some exclusive harder to find treats too. The price is a little higher than you might find at your local Finnish grocery store, but not much. The cafe is also not the cheapest cafe either, but you get a chance to sit in a historical site, doing what people did there before this brand became a chocolate giant. It's not themed either, it's just remained a cafe.

I can't visit Finland without a stop at the Fazer cafe. I don't think I'd plan a trip just to visit, but Finland is one of my favourite countries to visit, so I feel like I'll be there again in the future.

CC