By Ingrid Abramovitch
Photo by Stephanie Zollshan

A couple of years ago, Elise Contarsy couldn’t have told you the difference between a Strawberry Pencil Bite and an Elderberry Pig. She had certainly never sampled a Sour Flush. That all changed last summer, when she became the new owner of a venerable candy shop on Great Barrington’s Main Street. “I love the happiness candy brings to children of all ages,” says Contarsy. “And I also like that it’s high-margin and non-perishable.”

Becoming a small business owner was an unexpected move for the former merchandising executive, who once helped brands like Martha Stewart build mass-market retail businesses. During the pandemic, Contarsy and her family relocated from Westchester, New York, to a Greek Revival home in Ashley Falls. They had long come to the Berkshires for summer camp and winter skiing. After they moved, she served as CEO of a startup with a remote workforce, but eventually resigned. “I wanted to be near people again,” she says.

And then she learned that Robin’s Candy Shop, a picturesque Great Barrington institution that has appeared in American Express ads and a Barefoot Contessa episode, was for sale. The store, which had moved from Millerton, New York, in 2008, was a natural fit for an extrovert with business chops. Once her offer was accepted, she renamed the shop Coco’s Candy in honor of her standard poodle, Uncle Coconut, a regular fixture on the premises. The nostalgia-core holiday ornaments hanging from the ceiling, and stuffed penguins in the window remain. But the retail guru has made some sugar-coated tweaks, including a giant gumball machine visible from the street, and bungee dish chairs that welcome guests out front.

Now, what kind of candy do people want? It’s been an education. “Kids today don’t buy a Charleston Chew,” she has discovered, “but they do buy a Nik-L-Nip.” She carries both, of course, along with the Sour Flush, a runaway hit with children ages 2–7. “It’s like Fun Dip, but the candy is inside a plastic toilet. It’s one of the highest-restocked items I have.”

She also sells ginormous chocolate-and-caramel turtles (“We call them tortoises”), summer staples like fudge and saltwater taffy, and imported treats like Coffee Crisps. But the licorice case—stocking what she boasts is the largest assortment in the Northeast—is her pride and joy. “We’ve got over 30 varieties, from Dutch cats to school chalk,” she says.

At Coco’s, life is sweet—and every sale comes with a free toothbrush. “I joke that I liked the licorice so much that I bought the entire store.”