Shoppers hungry for creative candy gift-giving solutions gained a new option in Rye with the opening of BobbyPop’s first retail location on Dec. 2.   

The owners, five sisters who launched BobbyPop during the pandemic, have operated a studio at 15 Purchase Street, Suite 6, for about a year to fulfill online orders for their customized boxes of gummy candy topped with edible messages.    

“We didn’t plan to be open to the public, but we realized we had the space and we love Rye,” explained Clare Terhune, one of the owners. Based on that, the sisters (Clare, Erin, Cara, Mary and Molly) opened a storefront as a complement to their online business, said sister and co-owner Erin Murphy.   

The business, at the end of a colonnade of small business suites in a brick-and-white-stone building on Purchase Street owned by House of Hanover, LLC, will initially only sell its candy creations on weekends from 11-2. Online sales remain the company’s bread and butter, but over time BobbyPop may expand retail hours, Terhune said.

BobbyPop’s core product is an acrylic gift box of gummy candy topped with a short custom message made of white hard candy letters. The boxes are most often given as hostess gifts –“THANKS” is the most commonly requested message topping –, but the sisters have received unusual requests over the years, such as “BITE ME,” “PROM,” and “PREGZILLA.”

The inspiration for their business came from a bad experience the sisters had sending a birthday gift of balloons. “It cost $175 and looked terrible!” recalled Murphy. After months of brainstorming, taste testing, and market research, the sisters launched their concept of edible candy messages.

In addition to taking online orders from consumers, BobbyPop also does a brisk business in corporate gifts from such firms as Google, YouTube, and alice & olivia, said Terhune.    

Fulfilling such large orders from the workroom in the back of their studio is a labor-intensive family affair, handled primarily by the three sisters who live nearby (in Harrison, Old Greenwich, and Pound Ridge.) Previously they had managed the business out of a small guest house at their parents’ home in Bedford. (The name BobbyPop is a tongue-in-cheek reference to their father Robert.)

The front of their location has been converted to a bright and cheerful shop, highlighted by a glass display case showing 18 types of candies, including sour lips, skulls, and belts. Customers can have mixed assortments placed in small to large paper boxes or as elements of the signature acrylic box line.