M&Ms have been an American candy staple since 1941.
Image courtesy of google images
These candies are seen everywhere, in bowls and bags, from club parties to art galleries. These quintessential chocolates have a long lasting legacy, which is culminated with M&Ms World in Times Square, New York City. I recently had a chance to go there over thanksgiving break, and boy was I amazed! Their New York location (The brand also has mega-stores in London, England; Orlando, Florida; and Las Vegas, Nevada in addition to an online store at www.mymms.com) boasts two floors of M&M heaven! Far from the original 5 colors (Red, Brown, Blue, Green, and Yellow) the store has floor to ceiling dispensers of 21 separate colors, with varieties of original milk chocolate and peanut in each shade, as well as specialized mixes including one called NYC Taxi Cab, with grey, black, pale yellow, and white M&Ms.
Besides candy, M&Ms World carries various related merchandise including clothing, candy dispensers, toys, and souvenir items. My favorite: pants that look like an M&Ms avalanche. I even bought a pair. I was accompanying a family friend visiting the city from her school on Long Island. Entering the store, we were overwhelmed by rainbow explosions of M&M patterned and themed toys, key chains, shirts, boxers, pants, and bedding. We had some trouble navigating crowded escalators to the second floor to choose our M&Ms. There, we were confronted by floor to ceiling M&Ms dispensers with millions of M&Ms in each of over forty containers. Racks and displays of multi-colored individual candy dispensers and individually proportioned boxes of candies crowded the floor.
One of the more unusual containers for candy was a display of wine bottles filled with mixes of M&Ms with labels announcing “Congratulations!” or “Happy Birthday!” Souvenir mugs crowded one wall, stuffed “spokescandies” on another. Throughout, there were the joyful exclamations of children running wild, dragging their parents this way and that, thrilled with wonder at this chocolate wonderland. This rainbow explosion is the pinnacle of childhood.
An interesting fact is that red M&Ms were cut for nearly a decade because of fears of carcinogenic red dye, even though M&Ms did not use that red dye. This was when orange M&Ms were added. When Mars added the red M&Ms back, they decided to keep the orange ones.
