One hundred seventy-two flavors
The Seaside Candyman is in Heritage Square, not on the Prom, and that is part of the point. Taffy, a wheel, and a man who will rap about candy.
Cove Tales · June 25, 2026 · 2 min read
Phillips is the old candy shop. The Candyman is the other one: Heritage Square, 21 North Columbia, suite 105, a room that sells itself as Seaside’s number-one candy, taffy, and fun store. The website’s own count is 172 flavors of saltwater taffy, 68 Jelly Bellys, 33 Gilliam sticks, mega-to-micro jawbreakers, popcorn, fudge, cotton candy, and Tillamook ice cream. The free sample is the original taffy. The house motto is “Simply Yum-Didly Umpchous.”
Journey here
The shop dates itself to 1996. It is not a Victorian confectioner and does not pretend to be. Public listings put the owner on Yelp as Jesse E., who describes a one-stop candy store, a birthday cone, a wheel of fortune, a ten-percent discount, and “samples a’glore.” Reviewers in 2026 are still writing about the man more than the SKU: he sang a rap he wrote about candy; he was on the floor and offered the wheel. The Candyman is the brand and the person. Heritage Square sits off Broadway, near convention parking, which is how a family finds it after the carousel and before they have spent the afternoon on the Prom.
A normal day
Weekdays eleven to six, weekends ten to six, give or take a summer evening. Ice cream is the other register. Popcorn in caramel, cheese, sour cream and chives. They ship, with a warning that summer is hot and candy melts. They do not take returns. The work is the bins, the scoop, the wheel, and the decision not to be the shop on Broadway that has been there since 1897.
A customer moment
A July review called the owner “such a happy guy” and mentioned the rap. An August review called it the go-to ice cream, a value for families, the owner present and offering the spin. The customer is often a child who has already been told no at the Turnaround. The wheel is how the no becomes a maybe.
What visitors should know
It is not Phillips. It is not trying to be. Come for the taffy count and the ice cream, stay if someone is singing. Free sample of the original. If you are ordering in August, ask about melt. Pets are welcome, which is more than you can say for some of the fudge.
The Candyman is the brand and the person.
