Imagine That!

Imagine Candy has just opened in Scarsdale Village. We stopped by to chat with owners Bill Vogel and Donna Halperin and here is what we learned about their new venture:

How did you come up with the idea for a candy store?
Bill: I was in the corporate world and decided that I wanted a change. Being a lover of wine and chocolate, I found that there were subtle similarities relating to the palate.

Donna: Having grown many international corporate and early stage businesses, I was looking for something that spoke to my personal passions.

Together, we researched the industry, visited many trade events and many artisan producers of fine chocolate. We came to the conclusion that there was a market opportunity and a niche that was not being filled. Imagine Candy has been created to satisfy that market need.

What is your background?
Bill: Vineyards surrounded the area where I went to college. I would visit the wineries and talk with the wine makers and probably tasted 100 wines a week. After college I began working in the wine industry and worked in all aspects of the industry from retail to wholesale. I loved working with the individual family run wineries. The industry changed as large corporations began buying these family owned operations.

Are you from Westchester?
Bill: I was Brooklyn born- lived in Manhattan and moved to Larchmont when my daughter was young.

How did you select Scarsdale for the location?
We were looking for a quant community with an active town life. We looked at 6-7 towns in Westchester and thought that Scarsdale had the best synergy with the concept of Imagine Candy.

What does the store offer?
Imagine Candy is a chocolate and candy shop that both children and their parents will have fun visiting. We work very hard to sift through and curate the merchandise by finding producers that use the finest ingredients. We look for items that are special, interesting, particularly delicious… and we carry producers that you won’t see in every other store. In fact there are some items that are not to be found in any other store in New York.

When it comes to our chocolate case, we spent a year tasting 30 plus chocolatiers to insure that Imagine Candy is bringing the best to the community. When we place an order the product is made the very next day. Even our pretzels are covered in Belgian chocolate.

One of our objectives is to source the highest quality items and to buy local. We offer Belgian chocolates that are made in the USA. It is the quality of the ingredients that mean the most. Alongside the chocolate are the all time favorite candies that adults remember from their youths and also the contemporary candy like lollipops with real crickets and scorpions inside.

You can find creative gift baskets for all occasions, such as: Truffle Lovers Basket, Chocolate Java to Go, Cordial Collection, Nostalgia, Wine Lovers and more.

We love candy and art… and so we have created “Candy Arts”. This is a special program to encourage the artistic imagination and the love of candy and art. We invite the community to submit an 8 x 10 painting of any type of candy. (Stop in to receive your canvas). Four times a year a committee will select the 25 best works. Each of the winning artists work will be displayed in the store, featured on the website and will receive a $25 gift certificate for Imagine Candy.

What has been most popular so far?
The most popular items in the store have been: Ultimate Malted Milk Balls, NY Espresso Mix, chocolate covered salted caramels, our collection of chocolate covered pretzels, chocolate waffles and chocolate covered marshmallows.

I hear you will be running parties at the store – tell us about this:
We take a creative approach to children’s parties and sweet sixteen’s and of course can provide candy buffets at events. We already are in the planning stages for a few parties.

Have you received a good reception from the community?
We have had wonderful feedback with many customers returning a second or third time.

What do you sell at Imagine that would make good holiday gifts?
Imagine Candy is all about candy and chocolate… so we have wonderful boxed chocolates, the Cordial and Savory Chocolate Collections, our spectacular chocolate shoe, great gift baskets and candy related products. We believe that gifts should be personalized, so we combine different items for the perfect gift.

When are you open?
As of December we will be open seven days a week.

Anything else you would like to add?
Yes… for more information about Imagine Candy, visit our website: www.imaginecandy.com ., and because candy is fun, please fill out our Favorite Candy Questionnaire.

Imagine Candy is a state of mind…. spend time at the store and have fun!

Imagine Candy
22 Harwood Court
Scarsdale, New York, 10583
(914)723-7887
imagiinecandy.com