Brexit apparently isn’t souring this confectioner.
Spun Candy, a United Kingdom-based chain, is opening its first franchise store in the United States in Midtown Miami, The Real Deal has learned.
The store is leasing 1,076 square feet at the Shops at Midtown, Irma Figueroa, director of leasing and sales for Comras Company, who represented the tenant, told TRD. The space at 3401 North Miami Avenue was formerly occupied by the Daily Melt. It is currently under construction and is expected to open at the beginning of October, she said.
“It’s a regional center with great anchors; it’s a property that is almost fully leased,” Figueroa said of the Midtown shopping area. “It had the right combination of great co-tenancy and being in a great market that is growing a lot.”
Alexi Dominguez and his wife Isabel Lau are opening the store as a franchise of the U.K. company. Dominguez’s family owns a food packaging company based in Venezuela, Comercialistadora Agricola Dominguez, and he heads the Miami operation, which specializes in packaging beans and vinegar.
He told TRD that he was in Dubai and saw the Spun Candy store at the Dubai Mall. “It’s a very busy place and they are making the candy in front of you, so I was very surprised about it,” he told TRD. He picked up a brochure, emailed the company in London and spun a deal.
Finding a location was difficult as a first-time franchise, but he said he settled on Midtown with Figueroa’s help. “I like it because it’s close to Wynwood, which is a very artistic district, and what we do with candy is very artistic.”
According to its website, Spun Candy launched in Covent Garden, London, in 2013, and since then has expanded across the U.K. and the Middle East. The store specializes in such sweets as hard rock candy and lollipops that are 100 percent vegetarian. Visitors can watch the confectioners make each piece of candy by hand, and Spun Candy offers workshops to learn the art of confectionery, the website says.
Dominguez said training starts next week, with a candy maker from London who will spend two months here.