Vancouver Trendz [THURSDAY]

The New Candyman

Thursday, November 2, 2006

"It's Now" screams a colour burst from the front of every package of Choco-Pies on display at H-Mart, the Korea-based supermarket chain that has a second-floor store at the corner of Robson and Seymour. Are they commanding you to eat them? Showing off how hip they are? Or just stating the obvious?

These are some questions you may ask yourself when browsing through H-Mart's candy section. The other question you'll be asking yourself is "Can I buy everything here?"

That's because the candies at H-Mart are so awesome. And so entertaining. With little to no English on the packaging, shopping decisions are whittled down to the sub-linguistic level of figuring out which cartoon character on the box looks the cutest. Whether you go for the tiny brown bear who wants you to buy his hamster-pellet-shaped Choco Baby candies, or the mushroom-headed gnome who's encouraging you to eat his chocolate-topped brethren is entirely up to you.

We recommend going with the angry, grimacing anthropomorphic soda pop bottle and his package of juicy, slightly fizzy, Starburst-like thingies. Another favourite are the Cancho chocolate-filled biscuits (pictured right), a perfect snack to sneak into movie theatres. Plus the little kissing alien dude on the box is way cooler than any North American candy mascot.

Anyway, we could go on and on describing all of the treats awaiting you, but half the fun is discovering them for yourselves. So, go! Discover! A new world of candy awaits!

H-Mart, 590 Robson Street, www.hmart.com