Taste It Tuesday: Candied fruit
Walgreens is now a candy destination, thanks to TikTok.
The pharmacy chain said it is ramping up production of Walgreen’s Nice! Gummy Mango peelable candy, and limiting online sales to one bag per customer due to high demand for the squishy treats, fed by social media.
Part of the retailer’s lower-priced Nice! house brand of snacks and drinks, the miniature versions of mango fruit —which sells for $1.99 a bag — first appeared in September 2023 in 2,500 Walmart stores.
The idea for the candy came from a vendor relaying peelable mango trends they were seeing in Asia, Marty Esarte, vice president of Walgreens’ owned brands, said in an email.
“TikTokers discovered the candies in January and before we knew it, products were flying off the shelves,” Esarte said.
In one video on the platform, a TikToker describes picking up a bag of the candy at Walgreens after seeing it “all over social media.”
Walgreens is increasing inventory for the mango-flavored product to 8,000 stores on May 22. A new peelable banana gummy will launch in 5,700 stores on the same day, also selling for $1.99 a bag, the company said.
Kate Gibson is a reporter for CBS MoneyWatch in New York.
