Edible Food Find: Madeleine’s Candy Shop
Photos by Michael Piazza
For many with a sweet tooth, owning a candy shop could be considered the ultimate dream. Madeleine Brason made it her reality.
Brason opened her eponymous Madeleine’s Candy Shop in Boston’s South End last February on a cold, snowy day—to a line down the block. Bedecked in fish imagery, with walls of assorted sweets and blue striped branded candy bags, the shop was an immediate success. The community was as eager as Brason herself had been for a local sweet shop, and the proof was in the stock flying off the shelves.
“Initially I underestimated myself,” Brason says, “and the city of Boston, honestly.”
A native of Buffalo, Brason always wanted to live in Boston. In October 2023 she finally made her move to the South End from New York City for a fresh start. “I decided I was going to do a rebrand of my entire life … immediately I just knew this is where I was supposed to be.” Just one year later she quit her job in clinical research, and four months after that she opened the shop.
Driven by a love of sweets that could not be satisfied by what was available at the likes of CVS, she found herself dreaming that someone else might open a candy store in the neighborhood. Brason had seen the Swedish candy craze sweep across the internet as well as in her former home in New York City and was surprised it hadn’t hit Boston yet. Eventually she concluded, “rather than pay five dollars in shipping, why not pay five-figures to start the business?” And so she did.
She spent evenings perusing commercial real estate and was the first person to see the 600-square-foot space at 47 Clarendon Street that would become the shop’s home. With savings and credit card debt she got the location, found a candy distributor and conceived of the store design. Working on her own allowed her to remain nimble and execute swiftly, but after her initial success her parents decided to invest, and her older sister quit her job and came on as a co-owner. It’s become a family business, but Madeleine’s name remains the one on the door.
She stocks an ever-changing rotation of pick-and-mix candies, always with a selection of assorted sweet and sour gummies, unique Swedish-style treats and of course a chocolate section. “A big part of the initial business model and thought process was that I am not an expert on candy,” Brason says. “It’s so subjective, and I didn’t want to pigeonhole myself … it was really important to me to involve the community; I heavily depend on what they want.”
There is a place on the shop’s website for that community to share suggestions of what they want to see in the store. Early on, Brason started getting requests for custom candy setups for private events like bridal showers and corporate gatherings. This organically led to an unexpected branch of the business that saw her curating candy charcuterie boards, setting up pick-and-mix bars all over town and creating what she calls “Madbags” as party favors. It is something she didn’t anticipate but appreciates both as a creative outlet and as another extension into the community.
And now, just shy of a year since first opening, Brason has already leased out additional space next door to the shop to open a Vermont Creemee–style ice cream window, and has plans to make Halloween (arguably the Super Bowl of candy) a massive annual event at the store.
In a neighborhood well known for great restaurants and a strong small business community, Brason and her sweet tooth have already made their mark on the South End.
“It’s so cheesy, but I truly think I have the best job in the world.”
47 Clarendon St., Boston
madeleinescandyshop.com
This story appeared in the Winter 2026 issue.
