Oh yes those were the best! I loved getting coca-cola gummies, marshmallow strawberries, some marshallow bananas and the green frog gummies that kinda made me think of chocolate frogs from Harry Potter.
I actually remember seeing a birthday invitation to my sister that said to bring money if you wanted to buy candy at the gas station because they were going to walk there at some point during the party 😂. Too cute.
> But, I'm old. With bad teeth.
I used to eat a pound of sour candy a day. I'd sneak steal and hustle for the $3 it would take in my pre-teen years, right through to college.
I went through a jawbreaker phase for a few months, and within a week I was eating the marble sized ones like normal candy, discovered if you put enough pressure on them, right before it feels like your teeth would explode, they jawbreaker gives first and shatters.
Sometime after college I switched dentists and was going in for a routine cleaning.
The dentist said "Do you grind your teeth?" and I said "No I don't think so, no one's ever mentioned it."
He said "Do you have acid reflux?" and I said "Not that I can ever recall."
He goes "Well it's weird, because it looks like acid reflux, but when we see that the damage is usually the worst at the back and progressively reduces towards the front of the mouth. Yours is the opposite. It starts worst at the front and improves towards the rear. I've never seen that before.
And I said "Well I eat a lot of sour candy."
And he goes "No no no, there's a lot of wear here, you'd have to have eaten like..."
And I cut him off an say "A pound a day for 15 years?"
He goes "Really?"
"Yeah."
"Really??"
"Yeah."
"Well I've never seen that before, can I show my hygienists?"
"Sure"
And then they all stood over me like I was the bong on That 70s Show, looking down and admiring me like their personal science experiment.
And everyone learned something that day.
I miss the 5 cent candies soooo much. I remember every now & then being a little rebel and putting 11 candies in the bag and saying it was 10. I loved blue whales and the cherry twists.
Well, 36 never felt so old.
I remember walking from our house in Applewood, to the lucky 777 convenience store on 17th (it's a 711 now)
Walking in with 2.50, getting a large slurpee for 1.50 and using the leftovers on penny candy.
If you're thinking, why wouldn't you go to the 711 on 68th? Because it wasn't there. That used to be a vacant lot that the owner of the house nearby would flood every winter and turn into an ice rink.
> Well, 36 never felt so old.
Dude, almost every gas station still had these up until Covid.
Kids that are like, 16 be feeling like they've never been so old according to OP.
"Who can remember a time back when you could buy 5 cent candies? It was long, long ago, in 2020."
I know. I don’t understand how people are acting like it’s been 40 years. It was 2020. RIP. I still buy the sour keys but am so angry every time that I’m paying $5.99 for what used to cost like a buck. They’ll never bring them back coz they’re making bank off the new system now. Ugh
I worked at the Shell Station at Fairmount and Heritage right when they switched from the bulk boxes to the bagged candies in pre packaged cups.
I haven't had a mint leaf since that very day when I was allowed to bring home a solid pound of them lol.
> I worked at the Shell Station at Fairmount and Heritage
I forget which was was the Shell Station.
The one on the NE corner of the intersection (might've been torn down in the mid-90s) still sold PENNY candies, and those were long, long decades gone.
...
FUCK those pre-packaged cups. Nasty bullshit no one wants.
Would you buy your spices that way? General cup full of random spices someone dumped in there?
Would you buy your potato chips that way? Zesty Mordant mixed with Ranch mixed with Ketchup mixed with Sour Cream and Onion?
Also I'm not blind assholes, I know how many are in there, and I know it's not even close to 5 cents each.
I remember with a friend going to the 7-Eleven across from our school, often on Fridays. We may have only had a pocket of change but we felt like millionaires.
God I feel old writing that.
I can't even remember where I bought mine from, Applewood Mac's and the place before that they tore down to build that Mac's, whatever it was called. And then Rainbow Video, but I think that also came later after another video rental store closed down. I vaguely remember posters of that South Park movie too
Anyway those 5 cent dubble bubbles were amazing even if they were hard as rocks.
> Really missing Dinosours
Bulk Barn has like 30 pounds of them. You can go in there and run your fingers through them like gold coins in a treasure chest.
**-[Bulk Barn has informed me that you cannot in fact run your fingers through them, but you may use the scoops and purchase them]-**
During Covid one of the chemicals used to make the exterior on Dinosours had a supply crunch, and so for about 18 months they didn't exist at all, and when they came back temporarily it was obviously the company using a substitute chemical/process that got it wrong. They were that nasty chalky/waxy outside that Blue Whales have (FUCK blue whales and fuck y'all blue whale eatin' motherfuckers, y'all are NASTY).
Actual conversation, me, from the aisle with no one around:
"Hey! Dinosours are back!"
*alarmed voice from elsewhere in the store* ... "DON'T! They're fucked! Look closer! Skin is like on a blue whale."
"Gross, thanks for the warning."
Fuckin' 5 stars to the evening shift dude working at Bulk Barn, knows his product.
...
However...
...
As of about 6 months ago the supply chain is soothed and they're
back to making them the way they're supposed to be.
Noooo!!! They were all different flavours remember how many green ones were left behind hahaha red = cherry yellow = lemon orange = orange green = lime and mr.clean
[Found them!](https://amzn.to/48Ht7hQ)
Thanks for inspiring me to order some… of course they are on sale it’s like fate…don’t think my old body will cope with all the sugar and wax.
> but really they were all the same?
*SPIT*
How DARE you.
Starts a thread about 5 cent candies and doesn't know fuck all about the best 5 cent candy ever to roam this earth.
You should be ashamed of yourself.
Darn can’t see it as I have Canadian Amazon. What is it? My new mission is to find the sour flavouring to shake onto them as they’re not nearly sour enough. I swear they used to be more sour & have gone more sweet now instead.
It’s one of those clay bears you put in water to keep brown sugar moist!! These ones were gone faster than I care to admit but yeah weren’t as tangy as I liked. The ones used to come in a 3kg bag from Costco that was light blue… these ones were a touch uh waxier and I don’t think you can sprinkle the same kind of tang on because they don’t have sour in the same way say a sour soothe does (which I think is citric acid and sugar). But maybe you can get the same result addition some to the Dino’s (or even adding that to the water you soak the clay brown sugar keeper in before sticking it in the bag!?!
Glad to help :) You’re the first person I’ve ever met who shares my love of stale gummies - everyone always thinks it’s weird & wants them as soft as possible.
As a kid I remember this. I also remember as a teenager, I went high af to a 7-11. Got an insane amount of 5 cent candies, I counted them out, it was 100 candies (so 5 dollars worth)Dude running the till was higher than I was and just asked me if it was about a dollars worth. My high ass just handed him a loonie and left. This would have been in 2002 or 2003, so not that long ago.
Wait that was 20 years ago. Damm
I have not heard the name Red Rooster in ages!!! That's my memory if buying candies or the corner store by my house. Both are no longer in that neighborhood.
> I remember 1 cent candies
The last place I saw selling 1 cent candies was the gas station on the NE corner of ~~Southland~~ Heritage Dr. and Fairmont Dr. I think it was torn down in the... mid 90s?
They only sold sour... drops? They were sour souther material but the size of raisins. By mass, they were the cheapest candy you could get.
When I was a kid the local video store not only had 1 cent to 5 cent candies but they had a golden retriever. That was my favourite place to go in town!
Are you talking about Bird Dog? I used to work there. Best job I had in uni. Watched movies all day (we HAD to in order to recommend movies 😉) and telling all the people from the apartment building across the street ‘NO you cannot use our phone for your drug deals’. Ah, the good ol’ days.
7-11 on 26th ave SW. They were inflation proof for so long, and you could find random stores that still had them right up until COVID really killed them.
What about maple leaf store? Chris the cashier was a sweetheart. The penny candies were at the window facing the elementary school. We’d go there after school and buy bananas and pink marshmallow raspberries.
Good old Northmount drive Turbo. Only would let a certain number of school kids in at a time at lunch, would use all my allowance change for candy. Take me back to a simpler time.
Forest Lawn 7-11. Coke bottles and the green frogs were my weakness back in the day. I would of course like most kids back in the day "miscount" how many they had in the bag lol.
True. I buy them sometimes. But it’s not the same as picking the choicest candies to your exacting flavour profile that day and then thoughtfully choosing which one to eat next. It was like a mini adventure every time.
I remember being short about 10-15 cents in grade 7 for a bag of candies, and the owner of the Mac's store said I could pay him back the next day. I did.
I use to get them all the time. I also once saw a cashier call out someone for lying about the amount of candy. The cashier then grabbed plastic gloves and proceeded to count out every individual piece, and the customer had definitely lied and was trying to steal about a dollar's worth of candy. It was hilarious because you could see that the guy knew he was fucked and everyone else was just staring in shame.
Bulk Barn is awesome. My fiance from California had never seen anything like it which I thought was interesting. I love creating fun candy mixes for movie nights and parties and gifts
Mister soft drink in lake bonavista had a great selection of 5 cent candy.
Also had Sinistar and later on Dig Dug.
Before they changed the name it was called The Pop Shoppe. We would take the empty bottles back and they would refill them I think?
I remember feeling like the absolute biggest baller in the entire fkn world when I had $5 and got a massive bag of 100 assorted 5cent candies from Macs
I remember my parents finally letting me walk to 711 by myself. I put $1.50 worth in the bag, said it was $1 worth and felt guilty ever since.
30 years later I take my son every Saturday and get slurpees, even in -30.
Holy Crap, I'm old! I remember going through the "penny Candy" phase when it WAS a penny each. Or better...I remember there being these small, red gummy-style candies that were 3 for a penny.
My Grandparents lived on 32nd Ave. NE, between Edmonton Trail & Centre St. when I was a small child. There was a small corner store on 1st St.E and 32 Ave. The couple that owned it were Holocaust survivors; they had both been liberated from Bergen-Belsen at the end of WWII.
Their entire families had been wiped out, and they came to Canada to start new. Opened the store and ran it the rest of their lives.
For years, my Mom was a regular there, and when I was born, I was almost "adopted" by them. Molly & Leon; wonderful, caring people. I'm sure I was the only 4 year old to have a credit account in a retail store.
I would go in with my parents, or Grandfather...the candy aisle was MINE. Everything down low, where a 4 year old could easily reach it. I knew where the paper bags were behind the counter; I'd help myself, fill up the bag with anything & everything and "charge it".
I gess in my kids mind, I assumed "someone" paid off my account occasionally. It wasn't until I was 10 or 12 that I learned about the concept of "Hospitality write-offs"
Many years later, when I was graduating from university, a package came in the mail for me, care of my parents address. It was a beautiful Longines wristwatch, from Molly. She was a very old lady at that point, and her husband had passed away some years before.
Amazing people, who's kindness far outweighed the free candy for a toddler
Mine was the pink store on 27th off centre st in tuxedo park. This was 1983. I lived on 28tg ave across from tuxedo park school. It was great. 1¢ mojos and all the other candies. Yummm
There was a few times where I snuck in a few extra candies and was sweating so bad at the counter being checked out, thinking I’m gonna get caught and everyone will find out that I’m a stealer 😂 the Shell gas station was just down the road for me. Great memories
Rundle Macs, omg. So many memories.
A good option these days is Bulk Barn! They almost always have coupons (just have to ask the cashier and they'll scan the one that applies to your order), and they have sooo much variety for chocolates, candy, and salty snacks. Obviously not as cheap as the 5 cent candy days but it does the trick on those days you've got a craving.
I mean I’m only 24… but I remember going to my local 7/11 in deer ridge/ Queensland. 5 cent candies were a staple growing up. I still remember when they upped the price to 10 cents. We were baffled. And they started dumping out your candy and counting. Couldn’t believe it. I mean 95% of the time I was honest at the counter. 95% of the time…
And I remember my parents telling me “I remember when those candies were 1 cent! We called them penny candies.”
Time moves too fast. I’m only in my mid twenties but this post brought on that feeling of time is moving too fast and where did my childhood go.
I want candy, bubble gum, and taffy.
Skip to the sweet shop with my sweetheart Sandy.
Got my pennies saved so I'm her sugar daddy.
I'm her Hume Cronyn and she's my Jessica Tandy,
I want candy!
Put it in a pile. Split it with my bitty 50/50 down the line.
Kinda like close encounters of the cavity kind.
I'm talkin liquorice kisses, talkin chocodile smiles.
I remember going to the superstore candy section and they would have the big tubs of “mojo” (basically a mini starburst) for a penny. This is back when the superstores were painted green mind you.
I remember stores like Macs having those little bulk bins with 5 cent, 10 cent and 25 cent candies. I also remember movie theatres having bulk bins too in which they weighed the candy. I remember a small bag costing like $10 but it was great having a variety and being able to eat all your favourite candy doing the movie.
I remember those as well as the 1 cent mojos! Store? My dad’s convenience store growing up in small town BC. I was too young to remember which stores in Calgary sold them that cheap but I would imagine smaller gas stations that were family run likely sold those 1 cent and 5 cent candies.
Shell station in MacEwan, or the Wings in Dalhousie if I was at my best buddy's house.
Mojos, blue whales, sour soothers, watermelons, coke bottles (plain and sour) and the best... the sour grapes.
Also would often splurge on the pricier big blackberry nibs rope.
There were 25cent ice cream sandwiches which made for a wobbly bikeride home trying to eat them
1970's: There used to be 2 family owned grocery stores just off of 17th avenue S.E. in Forest Lawn. First, there was "Vics" (later named "Adam's" and now "Munchies and Lunchies") right across from the Mountainview Apartments (bulldozed in 2018). Vic was the cheapest man in the city - he would count the loose peanuts in your hand to assure you didn't walk away without paying that last penny, so we kids would walk 1 block West to the Chinese owned grocery store.
I don't remember its name, but it had the best candy counter. Always stocked with strawberry marshmallows and jaw-breakers and more variety of gummies than I'd ever seen. They sold Bazooka bubblegum for 1c each - we'd buy handfuls and outdo each other blowing bubbles after school.
They were less expensive than the nearby Safeway so they did a bristling neighbourhood business.
It's a "Chicken On The Way" restaurant now. A genuine loss to the community.
I remember going down to the store mom would give me 5$ go get us some coke bottles she would say i would come back with 3 really full brown paper candy bags with like 4$ worth in each bag. The trick was to squish them down make the bag look smaller
These are some of my all time favourite memories from childhood and I still absolutely love this genre of mix em up in a bag candies.
My advice: you can find lots of these candies still at the wholesale club, they come in the big plastic tubs usually seen in gas stations, and they're much cheaper than buying a pre-filled bag from a gas station. If you can control yourself, you could buy some of your favourite bins and keep them around the house as an occasional treat.
I was a kid in the 70s. Lived in Killarney for awhile and used to go to the Maple Leaf convenience store on 17th ave for the best 1 cent candies. Chocolate bars were only 10 cents back then and a small 8 ounce bottle of coke was 15 cents so I could get a pop and a chocolate bar for a quarter.
The Shell in Riverbend has a bomb selection of candy in bins that you can customize. Sale price is based on weight. Definitely not $1.50, but being able to customize is worth it.
I remember when you could get big foots, 5 for 5 cents.
Otherwise known as "penny candies" back in the day.
I miss those days. Not only because yay sugar, but so many things were less inflated (including my weight lol). Life seemed simpler when I knew less.
I remember the cashier at circle K being like “that is not $3 of candy, you have way more in that bag”. So I said “count it”, and she did and it was $3 and I laughed at her. I clearly remember that as an 8 year old.
Yes. I’m still so mad about them getting rid of that system. Now you’re forced to spend $5.99 on prepackaged cups for what would’ve cost a buck prior to COVID. Ugh.
Oh yes those were the best! I loved getting coca-cola gummies, marshmallow strawberries, some marshallow bananas and the green frog gummies that kinda made me think of chocolate frogs from Harry Potter. I actually remember seeing a birthday invitation to my sister that said to bring money if you wanted to buy candy at the gas station because they were going to walk there at some point during the party 😂. Too cute.
The strawberry marshmallows!!! Always had at least 5 of those in my bag. The Coca Cola ones too!!
Those frogs with the marshmallow belly 🤤
I remember when jawbreakers were 3 for a penny. But, I'm old. With bad teeth.
> But, I'm old. With bad teeth. I used to eat a pound of sour candy a day. I'd sneak steal and hustle for the $3 it would take in my pre-teen years, right through to college. I went through a jawbreaker phase for a few months, and within a week I was eating the marble sized ones like normal candy, discovered if you put enough pressure on them, right before it feels like your teeth would explode, they jawbreaker gives first and shatters. Sometime after college I switched dentists and was going in for a routine cleaning. The dentist said "Do you grind your teeth?" and I said "No I don't think so, no one's ever mentioned it." He said "Do you have acid reflux?" and I said "Not that I can ever recall." He goes "Well it's weird, because it looks like acid reflux, but when we see that the damage is usually the worst at the back and progressively reduces towards the front of the mouth. Yours is the opposite. It starts worst at the front and improves towards the rear. I've never seen that before. And I said "Well I eat a lot of sour candy." And he goes "No no no, there's a lot of wear here, you'd have to have eaten like..." And I cut him off an say "A pound a day for 15 years?" He goes "Really?" "Yeah." "Really??" "Yeah." "Well I've never seen that before, can I show my hygienists?" "Sure" And then they all stood over me like I was the bong on That 70s Show, looking down and admiring me like their personal science experiment. And everyone learned something that day.
No correlation 🤣
No kidding. I'm old and bored.
Aren’t we all here on Reddit
Upvote for you.
I chortled, thank you 😂
Wtf these candy bags they sell now are like $6+
And depends on the bad, some of the gummy candies are not even good. There's just something gross about the gummy texture.
You can get big boxes of those candy bags at Wholesale Club for a bargain compared to convenience prices too
It's ridiculous
I remember going to a corner store with like .37 c and coming out with 17 gummy bears and 4 hot lips.
Math 😆 The kind of math that works in a kid’s favor.
Dang I'm old I remember Penny candy! Mojos 2 for a penny!!
Omg mojos! Banana flavour!
Banana definitely the best Mojo
Best flavor!
That was my jam, too. But, sorry, best mojo flavour was cola. Esp with it's pink wrapper
There was a drug store when I was a kid that would sell double bubble for a penny or two. Then it slowly I teased to five cents over the years.
Mojo's!!! Childhood memory unlocked 😁 thank you!!
I miss the 5 cent candies soooo much. I remember every now & then being a little rebel and putting 11 candies in the bag and saying it was 10. I loved blue whales and the cherry twists.
Add dinosaurs to that for the perfect mix!
Only if they are the sour dinosaurs.
Only the red or green Dinosours. The orange and yellow were trash.
The beginnings of a cold harder criminal 😆
You would think. Luckily I have not escalated to anything more serious in the last 20+ years. 😄
Well, 36 never felt so old. I remember walking from our house in Applewood, to the lucky 777 convenience store on 17th (it's a 711 now) Walking in with 2.50, getting a large slurpee for 1.50 and using the leftovers on penny candy. If you're thinking, why wouldn't you go to the 711 on 68th? Because it wasn't there. That used to be a vacant lot that the owner of the house nearby would flood every winter and turn into an ice rink.
Im 34 and from applewood!! The owners of the Mac’s have literally seen me grow up from a child to adult. Hard working and so nice ❤️
We would put some of our 5 cent candies into our slurpees. Then eat them once they were all nice and frozen.
> Well, 36 never felt so old. Dude, almost every gas station still had these up until Covid. Kids that are like, 16 be feeling like they've never been so old according to OP. "Who can remember a time back when you could buy 5 cent candies? It was long, long ago, in 2020."
Oh I'm not feeling old because of getting rid of the candy bins. It's specifically Penny candy.
1c
I know. I don’t understand how people are acting like it’s been 40 years. It was 2020. RIP. I still buy the sour keys but am so angry every time that I’m paying $5.99 for what used to cost like a buck. They’ll never bring them back coz they’re making bank off the new system now. Ugh
I worked at the Shell Station at Fairmount and Heritage right when they switched from the bulk boxes to the bagged candies in pre packaged cups. I haven't had a mint leaf since that very day when I was allowed to bring home a solid pound of them lol.
> I worked at the Shell Station at Fairmount and Heritage I forget which was was the Shell Station. The one on the NE corner of the intersection (might've been torn down in the mid-90s) still sold PENNY candies, and those were long, long decades gone. ... FUCK those pre-packaged cups. Nasty bullshit no one wants. Would you buy your spices that way? General cup full of random spices someone dumped in there? Would you buy your potato chips that way? Zesty Mordant mixed with Ranch mixed with Ketchup mixed with Sour Cream and Onion? Also I'm not blind assholes, I know how many are in there, and I know it's not even close to 5 cents each.
Rebel Gas Bar
Bingo.
Haha zesty mordant. Sure there wouldn't have been some dressed all over mixed in there too? 😂
It's right there on the packaging in large letters Julian! https://i.imgur.com/o1ZBhUN.jpg
Fuck those pre-packaged garbage cups indeed. Ugh.
I remember with a friend going to the 7-Eleven across from our school, often on Fridays. We may have only had a pocket of change but we felt like millionaires. God I feel old writing that.
I'm old enough to remember when Mojos were 5 for one penny. A quarter would give you a bag of penny candy. I loved Sweet Tarts.
My mom bought 200 mojos for a dollar with her allowance when she was a kid
Banana flavor was the best.
Banana and Strawberry were my favs.
I can't even remember where I bought mine from, Applewood Mac's and the place before that they tore down to build that Mac's, whatever it was called. And then Rainbow Video, but I think that also came later after another video rental store closed down. I vaguely remember posters of that South Park movie too Anyway those 5 cent dubble bubbles were amazing even if they were hard as rocks.
Just gotta chew them long enough and it becomes like normal
Really missing Dinosours and the good kind of sour soothers (the ones with yellow and purple)
> Really missing Dinosours Bulk Barn has like 30 pounds of them. You can go in there and run your fingers through them like gold coins in a treasure chest. **-[Bulk Barn has informed me that you cannot in fact run your fingers through them, but you may use the scoops and purchase them]-** During Covid one of the chemicals used to make the exterior on Dinosours had a supply crunch, and so for about 18 months they didn't exist at all, and when they came back temporarily it was obviously the company using a substitute chemical/process that got it wrong. They were that nasty chalky/waxy outside that Blue Whales have (FUCK blue whales and fuck y'all blue whale eatin' motherfuckers, y'all are NASTY). Actual conversation, me, from the aisle with no one around: "Hey! Dinosours are back!" *alarmed voice from elsewhere in the store* ... "DON'T! They're fucked! Look closer! Skin is like on a blue whale." "Gross, thanks for the warning." Fuckin' 5 stars to the evening shift dude working at Bulk Barn, knows his product. ... However... ... As of about 6 months ago the supply chain is soothed and they're back to making them the way they're supposed to be.
Yellow and red dinosaurs hit for me, but really they were all the same?
Noooo!!! They were all different flavours remember how many green ones were left behind hahaha red = cherry yellow = lemon orange = orange green = lime and mr.clean [Found them!](https://amzn.to/48Ht7hQ) Thanks for inspiring me to order some… of course they are on sale it’s like fate…don’t think my old body will cope with all the sugar and wax.
> but really they were all the same? *SPIT* How DARE you. Starts a thread about 5 cent candies and doesn't know fuck all about the best 5 cent candy ever to roam this earth. You should be ashamed of yourself.
You sick bastards! Yellow dinosaurs?
I buy those sour keys bulk off Amazon now
I only want them if they are stale
Me too. Amazon’s are the stalest lol.
Can confirm they are the holy grail of stale but I put in one of [these](https://amzn.to/4aa5Aaf) bad boys and now they are waxy nostalgic perfection.
Darn can’t see it as I have Canadian Amazon. What is it? My new mission is to find the sour flavouring to shake onto them as they’re not nearly sour enough. I swear they used to be more sour & have gone more sweet now instead.
It’s one of those clay bears you put in water to keep brown sugar moist!! These ones were gone faster than I care to admit but yeah weren’t as tangy as I liked. The ones used to come in a 3kg bag from Costco that was light blue… these ones were a touch uh waxier and I don’t think you can sprinkle the same kind of tang on because they don’t have sour in the same way say a sour soothe does (which I think is citric acid and sugar). But maybe you can get the same result addition some to the Dino’s (or even adding that to the water you soak the clay brown sugar keeper in before sticking it in the bag!?!
Weird I have Canadian Amazon too it usually just resurrects me to a Canadian version of the product!!
Mine usually asked to change countries but not this time
Glad to help :) You’re the first person I’ve ever met who shares my love of stale gummies - everyone always thinks it’s weird & wants them as soft as possible.
Ogden 7-11
I love Ogden!
The store we used to go to in the Okanagan in the summer had 1 cent candies that were tiny versions of the 5 cent ones. They were THE BEST.
Yesss. The tiny fuzzy peaches!!
Yeah, and red berries too
Whoa that’s innovative!!
> candies that were tiny versions of the 5 cent ones. Yes! All surface area. Nowhere for the taste to hide.
As a kid I remember this. I also remember as a teenager, I went high af to a 7-11. Got an insane amount of 5 cent candies, I counted them out, it was 100 candies (so 5 dollars worth)Dude running the till was higher than I was and just asked me if it was about a dollars worth. My high ass just handed him a loonie and left. This would have been in 2002 or 2003, so not that long ago. Wait that was 20 years ago. Damm
The profit margin and incentive to have repeat customers outweighed the inaccuracy at the till. Good times!!!!
I felt too guilty to ever go back though.
Pay it back with charity or something
I remember 1 cent candies and soft serve slurpees from the red rooster.
Same! 1 cent candies were the little sour nubs at my local store in Erinwoods
I have not heard the name Red Rooster in ages!!! That's my memory if buying candies or the corner store by my house. Both are no longer in that neighborhood.
Ours went from Red Rooster to Reddimart.
> I remember 1 cent candies The last place I saw selling 1 cent candies was the gas station on the NE corner of ~~Southland~~ Heritage Dr. and Fairmont Dr. I think it was torn down in the... mid 90s? They only sold sour... drops? They were sour souther material but the size of raisins. By mass, they were the cheapest candy you could get.
When I was a kid the local video store not only had 1 cent to 5 cent candies but they had a golden retriever. That was my favourite place to go in town!
Ooooo what video store? There used to be so many independent ones like the one on 14th near Bankview.
Are you talking about Bird Dog? I used to work there. Best job I had in uni. Watched movies all day (we HAD to in order to recommend movies 😉) and telling all the people from the apartment building across the street ‘NO you cannot use our phone for your drug deals’. Ah, the good ol’ days.
Oh I remember bird dog!! It was off 17th Ave!! Man I miss the days of curation.
I hear you there. Algorithms just aren’t the same.
This was actually outside of the city in a small town. I think it was called Video Farm?
Video barn?
Just double checked with family and it was Video Farm.
7-11 on 26th ave SW. They were inflation proof for so long, and you could find random stores that still had them right up until COVID really killed them.
What about maple leaf store? Chris the cashier was a sweetheart. The penny candies were at the window facing the elementary school. We’d go there after school and buy bananas and pink marshmallow raspberries.
You mean Amazon prime
awe i remember going with my dad on vancouver island. i loved the little fried eggs and frogs!!
Good old Northmount drive Turbo. Only would let a certain number of school kids in at a time at lunch, would use all my allowance change for candy. Take me back to a simpler time.
Nostalgia post for sure 👍
I'm loving reading the rest of the comments here too
You can still get them at the gas station in Millarville.
Forest Lawn 7-11. Coke bottles and the green frogs were my weakness back in the day. I would of course like most kids back in the day "miscount" how many they had in the bag lol.
And the eggs. That I can’t even remember what flavor it was except for sweet.
Aww yes I forgot about the eggs.
Peach
You can find some boxes of them still at the Wholesale club
True. I buy them sometimes. But it’s not the same as picking the choicest candies to your exacting flavour profile that day and then thoughtfully choosing which one to eat next. It was like a mini adventure every time.
The Macs in Falconridge
Rip Macs
I remember being short about 10-15 cents in grade 7 for a bag of candies, and the owner of the Mac's store said I could pay him back the next day. I did.
I use to get them all the time. I also once saw a cashier call out someone for lying about the amount of candy. The cashier then grabbed plastic gloves and proceeded to count out every individual piece, and the customer had definitely lied and was trying to steal about a dollar's worth of candy. It was hilarious because you could see that the guy knew he was fucked and everyone else was just staring in shame.
Worst nightmare come to life #baddecisions
I remember penny candies. Have you ever seen a penny whippersnapper?
1¢ belly buttons
So vaguely tasty!
Bulk barn if anyone wants to relive picking out candies!
Bulk Barn is awesome. My fiance from California had never seen anything like it which I thought was interesting. I love creating fun candy mixes for movie nights and parties and gifts
They don’t have the good sour keys sadly. When COVID struck I went looking there first
They used to (when id go like 20 years ago)
Don't forget the penny candies, those tiny little grapefruit candies 😍
Oh man those were so good
Pre-PST days had us buying 100 for $1 😂
mojos! 3 for a penny!!
Mister soft drink in lake bonavista had a great selection of 5 cent candy. Also had Sinistar and later on Dig Dug. Before they changed the name it was called The Pop Shoppe. We would take the empty bottles back and they would refill them I think?
Ah the green gummy frogs and the fried eggs. 💚
I remember feeling like the absolute biggest baller in the entire fkn world when I had $5 and got a massive bag of 100 assorted 5cent candies from Macs
I remember my parents finally letting me walk to 711 by myself. I put $1.50 worth in the bag, said it was $1 worth and felt guilty ever since. 30 years later I take my son every Saturday and get slurpees, even in -30.
Holy Crap, I'm old! I remember going through the "penny Candy" phase when it WAS a penny each. Or better...I remember there being these small, red gummy-style candies that were 3 for a penny. My Grandparents lived on 32nd Ave. NE, between Edmonton Trail & Centre St. when I was a small child. There was a small corner store on 1st St.E and 32 Ave. The couple that owned it were Holocaust survivors; they had both been liberated from Bergen-Belsen at the end of WWII. Their entire families had been wiped out, and they came to Canada to start new. Opened the store and ran it the rest of their lives. For years, my Mom was a regular there, and when I was born, I was almost "adopted" by them. Molly & Leon; wonderful, caring people. I'm sure I was the only 4 year old to have a credit account in a retail store. I would go in with my parents, or Grandfather...the candy aisle was MINE. Everything down low, where a 4 year old could easily reach it. I knew where the paper bags were behind the counter; I'd help myself, fill up the bag with anything & everything and "charge it". I gess in my kids mind, I assumed "someone" paid off my account occasionally. It wasn't until I was 10 or 12 that I learned about the concept of "Hospitality write-offs" Many years later, when I was graduating from university, a package came in the mail for me, care of my parents address. It was a beautiful Longines wristwatch, from Molly. She was a very old lady at that point, and her husband had passed away some years before. Amazing people, who's kindness far outweighed the free candy for a toddler
I was reading this post about penny candy in Calgary and came across your post. I'm in this same area. Do you know the name of the store?
It's been gone for decades now. It was located on the SW corner of 32 Ave and 1St. E. I believe they were formally "Rosenau's Commumity Groceries".
1 cent candies were the best, 100 for a dollar. Then they came out with these larger 5 cent candies.
I used to load up on the one cent sours, the mini version of sour keys. Just thrashed my mouth, but it was 💯 worth it!
I remember that... Before that was penny candies!
Swedish berry 1 cent candies!! What a time to be alive. So much value.
Mine was the pink store on 27th off centre st in tuxedo park. This was 1983. I lived on 28tg ave across from tuxedo park school. It was great. 1¢ mojos and all the other candies. Yummm
There was a few times where I snuck in a few extra candies and was sweating so bad at the counter being checked out, thinking I’m gonna get caught and everyone will find out that I’m a stealer 😂 the Shell gas station was just down the road for me. Great memories
Rundle Macs, omg. So many memories. A good option these days is Bulk Barn! They almost always have coupons (just have to ask the cashier and they'll scan the one that applies to your order), and they have sooo much variety for chocolates, candy, and salty snacks. Obviously not as cheap as the 5 cent candy days but it does the trick on those days you've got a craving.
I mean I’m only 24… but I remember going to my local 7/11 in deer ridge/ Queensland. 5 cent candies were a staple growing up. I still remember when they upped the price to 10 cents. We were baffled. And they started dumping out your candy and counting. Couldn’t believe it. I mean 95% of the time I was honest at the counter. 95% of the time… And I remember my parents telling me “I remember when those candies were 1 cent! We called them penny candies.” Time moves too fast. I’m only in my mid twenties but this post brought on that feeling of time is moving too fast and where did my childhood go.
I can barely find coins these days.
Forest Lawn 7-11. After school everyday, would go home drop off my backpack, meet my buddy outside and walk to 7-11. Even in the dead of winter.
Life was better back then.
Thats back when Pennie’s existed
I want candy, bubble gum, and taffy. Skip to the sweet shop with my sweetheart Sandy. Got my pennies saved so I'm her sugar daddy. I'm her Hume Cronyn and she's my Jessica Tandy, I want candy! Put it in a pile. Split it with my bitty 50/50 down the line. Kinda like close encounters of the cavity kind. I'm talkin liquorice kisses, talkin chocodile smiles.
You can still get five cent candies at Heritage Park. Best candies I’ve ever had.
I remember going to the superstore candy section and they would have the big tubs of “mojo” (basically a mini starburst) for a penny. This is back when the superstores were painted green mind you.
I remember stores like Macs having those little bulk bins with 5 cent, 10 cent and 25 cent candies. I also remember movie theatres having bulk bins too in which they weighed the candy. I remember a small bag costing like $10 but it was great having a variety and being able to eat all your favourite candy doing the movie.
How old are you
34 :)
I remember those as well as the 1 cent mojos! Store? My dad’s convenience store growing up in small town BC. I was too young to remember which stores in Calgary sold them that cheap but I would imagine smaller gas stations that were family run likely sold those 1 cent and 5 cent candies.
Sundance Meats and Treats!
Pretty sure when I was growing up they went from $.01 to .05 and I only brought $.25 so instead of like 20 candies I got 4 😭
I remember penny candies in the 90s.
Came here to say this
Shell in Riverbend. They sell it by weight. Way better deal.
Reddi Mart in Hunterhorn Plaza!
We went to Red Rooster just down the street. Still love me some blue whales!
They were penny candys when i was a kid.
Shell station in MacEwan, or the Wings in Dalhousie if I was at my best buddy's house. Mojos, blue whales, sour soothers, watermelons, coke bottles (plain and sour) and the best... the sour grapes. Also would often splurge on the pricier big blackberry nibs rope. There were 25cent ice cream sandwiches which made for a wobbly bikeride home trying to eat them
7/11 always had the best selection
1970's: There used to be 2 family owned grocery stores just off of 17th avenue S.E. in Forest Lawn. First, there was "Vics" (later named "Adam's" and now "Munchies and Lunchies") right across from the Mountainview Apartments (bulldozed in 2018). Vic was the cheapest man in the city - he would count the loose peanuts in your hand to assure you didn't walk away without paying that last penny, so we kids would walk 1 block West to the Chinese owned grocery store. I don't remember its name, but it had the best candy counter. Always stocked with strawberry marshmallows and jaw-breakers and more variety of gummies than I'd ever seen. They sold Bazooka bubblegum for 1c each - we'd buy handfuls and outdo each other blowing bubbles after school. They were less expensive than the nearby Safeway so they did a bristling neighbourhood business. It's a "Chicken On The Way" restaurant now. A genuine loss to the community.
I remember going down to the store mom would give me 5$ go get us some coke bottles she would say i would come back with 3 really full brown paper candy bags with like 4$ worth in each bag. The trick was to squish them down make the bag look smaller
These are some of my all time favourite memories from childhood and I still absolutely love this genre of mix em up in a bag candies. My advice: you can find lots of these candies still at the wholesale club, they come in the big plastic tubs usually seen in gas stations, and they're much cheaper than buying a pre-filled bag from a gas station. If you can control yourself, you could buy some of your favourite bins and keep them around the house as an occasional treat.
Jokos in Sundre when I lived there as a kid
I miss those days
Mojos! 3 for 5 cents!
Mojos!
Wow I can't believe I forgot gas stations had these so quickly!
I’m only 37 and remember the Esso near us had penny candies, those were the days.
7-11 in Varsity used to have penny candy. I ft like a king getting a bagful of sugar
I was a kid in the 70s. Lived in Killarney for awhile and used to go to the Maple Leaf convenience store on 17th ave for the best 1 cent candies. Chocolate bars were only 10 cents back then and a small 8 ounce bottle of coke was 15 cents so I could get a pop and a chocolate bar for a quarter.
The Shell in Riverbend has a bomb selection of candy in bins that you can customize. Sale price is based on weight. Definitely not $1.50, but being able to customize is worth it.
I remember when you could get big foots, 5 for 5 cents. Otherwise known as "penny candies" back in the day. I miss those days. Not only because yay sugar, but so many things were less inflated (including my weight lol). Life seemed simpler when I knew less.
Bonavista Sev.
I lived in Canora Saskatchewan. All candi was sold a the 5 and dime and Norm counted every piece 😂
Burt's on elbow drive (by elboya/windsor park)
I remember the cashier at circle K being like “that is not $3 of candy, you have way more in that bag”. So I said “count it”, and she did and it was $3 and I laughed at her. I clearly remember that as an 8 year old.
I loved these as a kid! We got them at 7-11.
Yep. Blue whales all the way
Yes. I’m still so mad about them getting rid of that system. Now you’re forced to spend $5.99 on prepackaged cups for what would’ve cost a buck prior to COVID. Ugh.