Californian luxury confectioner Sugarfina is to open its first store in Asia – in Hong Kong’s Harbour City mall.
Sugarfina is being brought to Hong Kong by Upper East Holdings, which launched Lady M in Hong Kong in 2015 and plans to open several Sugarfina stores in the territory.
Upper East founders Stephen Yeung and Tammy Wu says the new 900sqft Sugarfina Hong Kong boutique will give shoppers “a taste of candy heaven” with a selection of packaged confections for every occasion, from hostess gifts to Lunar New Year gifts to the trademark Sugarfina Candy Trunk which holds 20 Candy Cubes.
The store will be designed to encourage Instagramming, featuring Sugarfina’s signature aqua and white colour scheme and photogenic merchandising.
Sugarfina describes itself as a disruptor in the US$200 billion global confectionery market for creating luxury treats for adults, including a cocktail candy collection with Champagne Bears, Single Malt Scotch Cordials, and Rose All Day Bears whose popularity led to a waiting list of more than 18,000 customers in the US.
The boutiques feature a collection of candies artfully displayed in modern Lucite cubes, including an area dedicated to “top shelf” candies – exotic, premium offerings from around the world such as Golden Truffle Eggs from Italy and interlocking chocolate wedding rings from Greece.
“We’ve been dreaming of expanding Sugarfina globally since the early days of the brand,” said Rosie O’Neill and Josh Resnick, co-founders and co-CEOs of Sugarfina.
“Hong Kong is the window into Asia and Upper East Holdings is the ideal partner to establish our brand in the region. We’re excited to partner with them to bring Sugarfina to life in one of the most vibrant cities in the world.”
Wu and Yeung say they were “mesmerised” by Sugarfina’s sophisticated concept and innovative candy flavours when visiting stores in New York, where they used to live.
“It’s exciting to introduce a fresh concept to the sweet tooths of Hong Kong. We have always been passionate about finding the perfect luxury confections experience to bring over from the US and we look forward to working with the creative minds of Sugarfina.”
To mark the Sugarfina Hong Kong opening, Sugarfina has created a two-piece Candy Bento Box exclusive to the store, inspired by the Hong Kong trams. The gift box will include Sugarfina’s Rose All Day Bears & Fuji Apple Caramel candies.
Harbour City is the first step in the retailer’s larger global expansion strategy, with O’Neill and Resnick planning partnerships in other foreign markets.
