Robin's Candy Shop — Local services in Great Barrington

I usually ALWAYS listen to reviews- I'm not sure why I didn't this time... The negative reviews are unfortunately accurate for Robin's Candy Shop. Candy selection is great, however the service is deplorable at best. Went with 2 other people, upon entry Robin yelled from across the store for us to use the hand sanitizer and to keep our masks on- yelling I could have done without but brushed it off because Robin looks to be older so I understand wanting to make sure herself and patrons are safe, however, the two other people I was with were immediately turned off. As we're applying the hand sanitizer, a mother and two children immediately come in who Robin barks the same orders at and instructs to wait by the door while we browse as we were there first. My party and I let the mother know that we will wait for them to go through the store first as young kids can get antsy waiting around and we preferred to take our time browsing. The mother graciously accepted the offer and shuffled the kids throughout the store, paid and left- probably 15 minutes total we were waiting, not a problem for us. Once the mother and kids exit the store, my party and I begin browsing. After about 10 minutes of browsing, we decide on what we're going to get and my mom goes to the display counter of hand-dipped chocolates to order some things. Robin sees her and goes to take her order, but then an older couple walks in and Robin redirects her attention toward them- ignoring my mom who had been waiting there. She tells the older couple (who clearly have been there before and personally know Robin) to come in and quite literally begins to dote on them- asking what they need, starting a little stockpile of candies they're requesting. This back and forth between Robin and the couple goes on for 10 minutes, all the while my mom is still standing there, waiting to order from the display and I have also since started waiting as I also wanted to get things from the display. Robin continues to ignore our presence and to add insult to injury, proceeds to grab things out of the display in front of us for the couple, not acknowledging us once, and walks back and forth in front of us as if we hadn't been standing there for 10+ minutes at this point. We decide the over priced candy isn't worth the wait and leave. We ended up going to another local store and vent about our frustrations while buying candy from them and they quite literally say, "Oh ya, she's known as town grump". Lesson learned, believe the multiple negative reviews before going to a new store. Going through and rereading the reviews after the fact, it seems as though we had dodged a bullet because the prices were apparently obnoxiously high. I thought it was odd there was no pricing on the display chocolates. It's a shame because the interior is so inviting, but the obnoxious owner makes it...

After reading all of these negative reviews about price gouging, I need to come out and simply say that I disagree with a lot that has been said about this place and it’s owner. Yes, the owner was pretty direct about the Covid policy (and told me and my girlfriend that we needed to keep our coffees at the door) but I do understand given the current situation with these variants and the holiday season. I bought a few things, and then she rang us up for about $50 even as there were like 15 other people in the store. She was nice enough to talk to us for a few minutes as well. After leaving, my girlfriend told me about all the negative reviews and so naturally I had to do some of my own investigation. I bought some pecan candies for $8 that I found on Amazon for $5. Considering the cost of operating a store, AND to allow the owner to make a profit (a decent profit) I don’t think a 60% mark-up is “price-gouging” especially on non readily available products. Yes, she sold us a $17 pack of fudge that was dry and seemed a bit old, but that is fine as similar fudge goes for $8 but you do not get a good experience out of going to a store in a nice neighborhood. Businesses got slammed during covid and now need to recover; people need to be more sensitive to this rather than focus on a 60% mark-up on somewhat luxury candies. As for her personality, yes she wasn’t Santa Clause by any means, but she didn’t make me feel weird or awkward whatsoever. Product is ok, the pecan candies were bomb, service was ok. But as for price gouging, I disagree. It’s ok for business owners to make money and I’m...

I arrived on a Saturday afternoon during a street fair type situation. Love chocolate…love candy. Cute little nostalgic shop. No prices anywhere, which is fine. Price shouldn’t be a determining factor when you’re treating yourself…assuming it’s a treat.

$49.75 for 1 peanut butter cup, 1 peanut butter ball, 1 cashew turtle, and 1 piece of brittle.

I was shocked when I got to the register, but hey, it’s gourmet, and I’ll give it a shot. Inflation, location, all reasons to maybe charge $12 a chocolate.

Too bad they all tasted awful. The chocolate was dry and chalky. The peanut butter was dry and chalky. Everything was stale. So disappointing. Take a bite out of one…put it down, hopeful the next will be better. Nope, not that lucky. Each piece was as awful as the last.

As far as customer service…horrid. Attendants were more interested in folding boxes with their backs turned to the people in the store. You literally have to yell over the counter to get someone’s attention to sell you these disgusting, over-priced confections.

The only positive from the entire experience…a “free” travel toothbrush tossed into the bag?Cute. I needed something to get the taste out of my mouth after sampling those “treats,” so that was appreciated. Maybe include a bottle of water as well so people are able to swallow your chalky, stale chocolates.

Good luck. I’m the type of person that will give most places a second chance. Unfortunately, this is not one of...