NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� Economy Candy鈥檚 shelves brim with sweets from around the world 鈥� gummies from Germany, lollipops from Spain, chocolates from Japan and a panoply of candies from across the U.S.
Standing amid it all, columns of bright jellybeans to his left and exotic Kit Kats to his right, owner Mitchell Cohen is quick with his assessment of how many of this are affected by the announced by President Donald Trump.
鈥淚 think all of them,鈥� Cohen says at his store on New York's Lower East Side.
Few corners of are untouched, directly or indirectly, by the sweeping tariffs being imposed by Trump. Even a little store like Economy Candy.
Cohen had just begun to feel a barrage of inflation-driven price increases ease when the tariff threats arrived. For a business with a name like Economy Candy, he wants to remain affordable but fears how high some prices may have to climb .
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 gonna be another round of this hyperinflation on some items,鈥� says 39-year-old Cohen. 鈥淚f we鈥檙e putting tariffs everywhere, it is going to go up.鈥�
Stepping into Economy Candy feels like a time warp. Its name is emblazoned on a sign in a vintage, blaring red script, and crossing below its green-and-white striped awning, past the bins of Smarties, butterscotches and Lemonheads in the front window, an indecipherable sweetness fills the air, oldies music sounds overhead and customers mill around stacks of candy bars they forgot still existed.
It represents just a blip in the country鈥檚 $54 billion candy industry. But it was already feeling the weight of surges in prices of cocoa and other ingredients before tariffs were layered on.
Candy and gum prices are up about 34% from five years ago and 89% from 2005, according to Consumer Price Index data. Price, according to the National Confectioners Association, has become the decisions, outweighing a buyer's mood.
About a third of Economy Candy鈥檚 products are imported, crowded on shelves and tables near the store鈥檚 rear. There aren鈥檛 just 鈥渕ore German Haribo varieties than the Haribo store in Germany,鈥� as Cohen claims, but gummies the brand makes in France, Austria and Britain.
They have every Milka bar they can find in Switzerland, every type of Leone hard candies that Italy churns out and as many exotic Kit Kats from Japan as they can fit.
On products like these, the tariffs鈥� toll is obvious.
Pistachio Snickers bars are from India, now subject to 26% tariffs, while passion fruit mousse Snickers are from Portugal, now under the 20% European Union levies.
But even an American-made Snickers isn鈥檛 immune.
While the bars may roll off conveyors in Texas, they . Sourcemap, which tracks supply chains, says Snickers bars include chocolate from Guyana and sugar from Brazil and are wrapped in packaging from Canada. All are now subjected to varying levels of tariffs.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot of ingredients in there that have to come from other countries,鈥� says Andreas Waldkirch, an economics professor at Colby College who teaches a class on international trade. 鈥淯nless you鈥檙e talking about something very simple from your local farmers market, almost every product relies on ingredients from elsewhere. Those indirect costs are really what鈥檚 going to drive up prices.鈥�
The story repeats with American candies across the store 鈥� the boxes of Nerds and bags of Sugar Babies and rolls of Smarties are all inextricably tied to the global supply chain.
A table teeming with those domestic delicacies takes center stage near Economy Candy鈥檚 entrance. Cohen took over the store from his parents, who took it over from their parents before. He got his first haircut in the store. He was behind the register as a child. He took his wife by on their first date.
As a kid, everything on the store鈥檚 centerpiece table of American treats cost 59 cents. By 2020, the price was $1.29, but customers who bought a whole box paid a discounted rate of $1 per piece.
Now, Cohen can鈥檛 even get them wholesale at that price.
Today, he sells the items on the table for $1.59. Cohen calls the selection a 鈥渓oss leader鈥� but thinks it's important to showcase his store's affordability. Once the tariffs are fully implemented, he鈥檚 not sure he鈥檒l be able to put off price increases.
鈥淲hen your margins are coming down and your dollar doesn鈥檛 go as far at the end of the day, you really start to feel it,鈥� he says. 鈥淏ut I don鈥檛 want anyone to come into Economy Candy and not think that it鈥檚 economical.鈥�
The biggest-ticket implications of the tariff blitz understandably gain the most attention 鈥� the thousands of dollars a car鈥檚 price tag may grow, the tens of thousands that disappear from a retirement account in a single day. But here among the root beer barrels and licorice strands, you're reminded that small-dollar items are affected too, and so are the families selling them.
At its birth, the business Cohen鈥檚 grandfather started focused on shoe and hat repairs. But in the wake of the Great Depression, when few in a neighborhood of crowded tenements had money for such fixes, the business pivoted.
Candy, once relegated to a cart out front, took over the store.
In the 88 years since, business hasn't always been Chuckles and Zagnuts. The Sept. 11 attacks kept tourists away and had sales sagging and the pandemic closed the store and forced it to pivot to online sales.
If tariffs upend things, Cohen isn鈥檛 sure how he might adapt again. He sells products that aren鈥檛 made in America and he sells American products made with ingredients from across the globe. He had just been making headway on beginning international sales, but the web of tariff rules may make it impossible.
The average U.S. tariff could rise to nearly 25% if the import taxes Trump put on goods from dozens of countries are fully implemented Wednesday. That would be the highest rate in more than a century, including tariffs widely blamed for worsening the Great Depression.
Trump said imposing the tariffs amounted to for a country that has been 鈥渓ooted, pillaged, raped and plundered鈥� by friend and foe alike, insisting it was 鈥渧ery, very good news鈥� for the U.S.
Cohen isn't sure how that can be true for a business like his.
鈥淚 can understand bringing manufacturing and bringing things back to America, but you know, we rely on raw materials that just aren鈥檛 native to our country,鈥� he says. 鈥淎nd it鈥檚 not like I can get a green tea Japanese Kit Kat from an American company.鈥�
As Cohen stood before mounds of strawberry candies in shiny wrappers and little cubes of caramel in cellophane, the first word of the tariff鈥檚 concrete impact on him arrived. A French supplier emailed saying it was immediately imposing a 5% surcharge due to the tariffs, expressing regret for the move and hope that 鈥渢he situation will be resolved swiftly.鈥�
Cohen wore a smile anyway. He wants this to be a happy place for visitors.
鈥淵ou travel back to a time when nothing mattered,鈥� Cohen says, "when you didn鈥檛 worry about anything.鈥�
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Matt Sedensky can be reached at [email protected] and https://x.com/sedensky.
Matt Sedensky, The Associated Press
