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Hot Shopping: Sweet Stuff

Frankies Candy Bar

Dentists tend to avoid Frankies Candy Bar, but everyone else loves the colourful shop, which is bursting with sugary snacks such as chocolate-covered gummy bears, lollipops, candy rocks, sour gummy worms and gumballs. Anglophiles especially adore the hard-to-find treats from England. Stop by before Halloween to stock up on Pop Rocks, Giant Chewy Nerds, Big League Chew and Tooty Frooties for trick-or-treating ghosts and goblins.—Sheri Radford

More information:

Frankies Candy Bar, 5305 West Blvd. 604-568-3107.

www.frankiescandybar.com

Hot Entertainment: Kids Market

Kids Market photo by KK Law

Adults love Granville Island for the Public Market’s fresh produce and meats, for the artists’ studios filled with quirky art, and for the restaurants and theatres. Kids, however, love Granville Island for the Kids Market, a two-story burst of colour and noise overflowing with toys, games, costumes, books, candy and clothes—everything a tiny tot could desire.—Sheri Radford

Hot Dates: Happy Easter!

Photo copyright Rinelle/istockphoto.com

April 24

Organize an Easter egg hunt for Apr. 24 and grab sweet treats from one of these cacao-loving shops: Chocolate Arts, Xoxolat and Thomas Haas in Kitsilano; Daniel Le Chocolat Belge on South Granville; Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory and Mink A Chocolate Café downtown; Rogers’ Chocolates in Gastown; and city-wide Purdy’s. Many people have Good Friday and Easter Monday off from work—all the more reason to stock up on edible bunnies and colourful foil-wrapped eggs.—Jennifer Patterson

Hot Shopping: Sweet Tooth

Caramel apples tempt at Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory. Photo by Kevin Arnold courtesy Tourism BC

Craving candied apples, peanut brittle and jellybeans? These fun shops satisfy that sugar fix and are a tasty alternative to a non-edible souvenir.
Rogers’ Chocolates.
The Great Glass Elevator Candy Shop.
Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory (pictured).—Jennifer Patterson

15 Things We Love About Vancouver: January

Michael Zheng's The Stop. Photo by KK Law

Michael Zheng's The Stop. Photo by KK Law

1 The Vancouver International Sculpture Biennale (pictured at right), on until next year.
2 Rediscovering the sweets of yesteryear at The Candy Aisle. PEZ, Big League Chew, Sweetarts, Nerds, Runts, Laffy Taffy—yum.
3 The fact that pretty much every city block contains at least one coffee shop.
4 Watching the annual Polar Bear Swim (Jan. 1) with something—and someone—hot.
5 Lights of Hope (to Mar. 21), raising money for St. Paul’s Hospital.

St. Paul's Hospital is all lit up until March 21. Photo by KK Law

St. Paul's Hospital is all lit up until March 21. Photo by KK Law

6 Cheap eats at Hon’s Wun-Tun House.
7 The Shoppers Drugmart on Davie Street, which is open 24 hours a day.
8 Exploring the centre of the city.
9 Stephen Colbert. He’ll be here next month—whether as the official sponsor of the US speed skating team or as the City of Richmond’s Olympic Oval Ombudsman or even as an Olympic athlete, we don’t know. We do know the host of Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report will make us laugh.
10 Catching a sunlit glimpse of the snow-covered North Shore mountains from downtown, and planning an escape to Grouse.
11 Nala, the seven-month-old (but only recently named) baby beluga at the Vancouver Aquarium. The name is short for an Inuktitut word meaning “surprise gift.”
12 Cheering for the Vancouver Canucks.
13 The clean, crisp winter air.
14 Counting down to the 2010 Winter Games.
15 The World Needs More Canada collection at Chapters and Indigo stores, which includes books by Canadians such as Margaret Atwood and Rex Murphy and accessories such as a red umbrella sporting a patriotic message you can’t ignore.