I Both Love and Hate the M&M's Stores

 

On a recent trip to London, Allison and I decided to visit the M&M’s store near Piccadilly Circus. I’ve visited a few M&M’s stores in the past, but for some reason this visit made me think a little bit more about these stores. Who came up with the idea of building a store dedicated to one particular candy? Why do they sell more merchandise than candy itself? Are these stores even run by the candy company?

I’ve personally had love/hate relationship with these stores. I’ll be honest, I like M&M’s, but they’re nowhere near my favourite candy. One of the issues is I feel like there’s a great potential to offer a bunch of different versions of this simple treat. While they have a few different varieties, there are many other candies out in the world with many more varieties, like Kit Kat or Pocky. There was a short period where M&M’s did go a little crazy with alternate varieties, but they really only have a handful of standard flavours out there. All of this can also be considered unimportant since when you visit an M&M’s store you’re sure to notice that they don’t actually sell much candy.

This is where things get a little odd for me. I’m a little turned off by the lack of candy at most M&M’s stores. While they do offer some treats for sale, it’s not the main focus of the store. The main focus is candy themed merchandise. Strangely, I would argue that there’s a good percentage of merchandise at these stores that isn’t even really themed to the candy itself. At almost all of the M&M’s stores I’ve visited, I’ve found a lot of merchandise that’s themed to the store itself and its geographic location. I know that places like Hard Rock Cafe have built a brand based on shirts featuring the various locations of their stores, but I feel like there’s something more to them. Most of the tourist themed merchandise at the M&M’s stores just feels really disconnected from the namesake candy.

The part that’s odd for me is the fact that while I don’t like the fact that the M&M’s store sells more merchandise than candy, I personally own several pieces of merchandise. I’ve even been known to purchase some of the more tourist heavy stuff. While I wish there was more candy at these stores, I really like some of the merchandise that they sell. The great thing about M&M’s over other candy companies for merchandise is the fact that one of the key features of the candy is the colours. They’ve managed even to transfer the colours into characters. So this allows for some really fun merchandise.  I’ll also say that all (or at least most) of the merchandise I’ve ever purchased at an M&M’s store has lasted me a pretty long time.

I also don’t mind the decorations at many M&M’s stores. I think it follows the same rules as the merchandise in that the candy offers many colours, so it allows the store designers to be colourful as well. The pallet of colours and design of the candy are simple and kind of beautiful (just look at a bowl of M&M’s and tell me you’re not impressed).  The M&M’s mascots also give the store some appeal, creating fun little scenarios as well as photo opportunities.

I guess what I’m saying is, I don’t mind the M&M’s stores at all, but I wish they sold more candy. It would be great if the stores offered some limited or exclusive flavours of M&M’s. As it stands, many of the stores offer a variety of colours, but very limited flavours.

I also haven’t answered the question about who might actually be running these stores. I assume that it’s Mars (the manufacturers of M&M’s), but I also imagine that this is something that could be licensed to outside retailers. I could dig deeper, but honestly I don’t know if it’s that big a deal. I don’t feel like the people who run these stores are doing a particularly bad job, I just wish they could include a little more room for candy, and maybe work with the candy makers for exclusive products.