Main Street Sweets

This is one of my very favorite places in downtown Martinez. Being new to the area, I took my boys one day and we discovered this little gem. The owners are SO sweet and remember you — it feels like one of those old «mom and pop» shops (although the owners are not old) :) They have great prices and don’t try to rip you off. My oldest son loves getting the ice cream cones, and my younger son always wants to get a small bag of assorted candy. My favorite is the truffles and homemade chocolates in the glass case. I love everything about this store!

A family owned main street staple, I have been coming her for 20 years! They make many of their own chocolate confections and offer a large variety of fun candies. I do wish it was organized in a less chaotic manner and they were able to modernize the shop a bit.
However, when it comes to service, you can’t be the kindness and family value! When it comes to sweet options, they have everything your sweet tooth may desire! I like that they offer the candy by the weight option instead of a bunch of prepackaged candies, which they also offer. It is fun to make your special bag of treats. Especially great stop for your little ones!

Awesome little candy store that we stumbled across. Lots of old school candies that brought back memories (cigarette gum!). Owners were there and they were very friendly with us. Prices are pretty cheap and there’s lots of goodies to choose from!

I love supporting local businesses that offer quality products. This place doesn’t disappoint!

Such a great traditional candy shop. I bought the most amazing fresh made toffee– the owner was nice enough to package it for me to gift. I also loaded up on all my childhood favorites. I’m obsessed with this cute little gem on Main St.

Great ice cream! Snagged some chocolate sugar free sweets as well. It’s a cute small town ice cream shop.

Main Street Sweets candies are delicious, my favorites are the homemade chocolate/​caramel covered marshmallows, the huge caramel apples (always wrapped so nicely), and the white macadamia Toffee. The Toffee is homemade, & each flavor is fabulous! I adore the Gunther’s brand ice cream, Lemon Custard is so rich & creamy Visiting Main Street Sweets is always a fun outing. It’s always fun to buy a few candy bars that I remember from my childhood. The store owners are always friendly & welcoming. I also enjoy going into this shop because the store owner sells some of her artwork & jewelry. Main Street Sweets is a GEM!

This review is overdue… by about 3 years!
Yeah, I know maybe I shouldn’t review it. Maybe it’s gone downhill since I used to frequent it. Maybe the candy is old. Maybe the employees are rude. I don’t know.
Anyhow, this is a classic candy store filled with nostalgic favorites. I used to walk to downtown Martinez all the time with my little boy (back when I still lived in town) and this used to be one of our regular stops. Always a fun place to visit.
You can’t beat nostalgia.

You know, I was all for this place until yesterday.
Now I’m all about supporting the local business of Martinez. I love Martinez. And I live right in downtown, and often go to this what you would call a «gem» of a place. Where else can you find old-​school candy shops that sell in bulk, and sell old school candy like those caramel apple pops by the singles? Yeah you may be able to find them in liquor stores, but chances are they are 20 years old.
I digress.
We had an incident yesterday at this shop. I decided to treat my daughter to some gummy butterflies, and asked our neighbors to come along with us. So we two adults along with our children (mine, 3 yrs, hers, 2 yrs) walk in, and mind you, our children were pretty well behaved. It’s not like our children were running around terrorizing the place. My daughter and I headed for the gummies, and our friends were near the other bulk, hard candy. Next thing I know, mini jawbreakers were scattering all over the floor. The bin had tipped over when my neighbor’s son went to grab the scoop, and his mother was right next to him.
My neighbor was very apologetic to the manager (possibly owner?) and asked him for a broom so she could clean it up. He said, very rudely «No, but I need you guys to leave. It is too dangerous to be in here. This is what happens when you don’t watch your kids.» And my neighbor said «I was watching him» and he said «Uh no you weren’t, you had your back turned to him the whole time.» If that had been true and he was watching the whole thing, don’t you think he would of maybe mentioned something like «hey, he’s going to tip that!»
Now granted, I was bending over scooping gummies when this had happened, but I know that my neighbor was standing right next to her son when he had tipped it over, and know that she was trying to grab a bag when this happened. It took two seconds for her to find the bag, and get the bag when her son was able to tip over the bin. He didn’t mean to, it was a pure accident. She couldn’t stop it, it had happened so fast! THESE THINGS JUST HAPPEN SOMETIMES. Anyone with children would know that these things can happen… that they are capable of doing anything in a blink of an eye! But the way that this man had spoken to her was COMPLETELY out of line. Questioning her parenting and blatantly accusing her of not watching her son, and then going as far as to carry on this argument. We were not even there for 3 minutes before this happened. Now I understand why he was upset, because that’s product loss for him. But 1, my neighbor apologized right away. 2, she was all for cleaning it up, and I myself would have helped too. It was totally uncalled for, the comment of «This is what happens when you don’t watch your kids». We were pretty much rendered speechless as we were leaving because we couldn’t believe how rude he had been. It’s not like our children were being total brats and were out of control from the minute we walked in.
And one must wonder… how is it that a two year old who really is not that strong, able to tip over one of these pretty full bins, anyway? The only lesson to be learned here is not how to properly parent your child, but maybe that if you are running a candy store, you should probably make damn sure that your product is secure so accidents like this don’t happen. Your major clientele is children. Why wasn’t this bin securely hooked onto the rack? I am questioning the sense in that…
Bottom line, it was an accident, pure and simple. And my neighbor was treated terribly. Needless to say we will not continue to support this, what I once thought, was a fabulous little place to go and get some candy. I will not support a business owner (I’m still assuming… he is always there… and not very friendly to begin with, anyway…) who can’t seem to keep it together enough to understand that yes, his business caters to children and yes, accidents can and WILL happen, inevitably. To argue with your supporting, local customer who was apologetic and ready to clean it up… I mean. really?
I do thank him though, for giving me the bag of gummies for free, as we were being removed from the shop. However I felt like they were only given to us as a «just take it and get the hell out of my face» rather than «you’re a regular customer, here you go».
Super disappointed and bummed. Where else am I going to find gummy butterflies? And gummy frogs… in bulk…

There are so many heartless, big chained ice cream vendors out there. You usually have to stand in a long line, in a cramped room, waiting to be noticed by the clerk, hoping to get your kid a treat before they have a total meltdown. And gawd knows what crap these companies pump into their ice cream. This is why I avoid Cold Stone and the like.
Instead I go to Main Street Sweets where they serve Gunther’s ice cream. Main Street Sweets is a pretty tiny storefront, true. And it’s hard not ignore the displays packed with yummy handmade fudge candies. My diet fails every time (I’ll take 2 turtles please). But after receiving really nice service from an owner who cares, you can take your yummy treat and walk around downtown Martinez or the marina. Much better than a hot shopping mall parking lot.
If you know me, you know what to get for my birthday. Box of chocolates please. I’ll eat some after the ice cream. Nom. Nom. #noshame

best white chocolate macademian nut truffle, cute little store and the owners are wonderful

I love everything about this place! Not only are the owners incredibly nice, but their chocolate is delicious! My boyfriend and daughter were there last week and brought me back chocolate covered strawberries. My daughter got a Carmel apple and he bought some mixed chocolates for himself. Everything was great!
Today we went back to pick up my birthday present. I had no idea what to expect when my daughter walked me in there. Not only does the owner make yummy chocolates, but she makes AMAZING glass art. I also left with a box of dark chocolate pistachio toffee. So good!
You’ve GOT to see this place!

A cute old fashioned candy and ice cream place tucked away on main street. Great ice cream and a great selection of candies. They hand make some of their chocolate and toffee… so delicious! Cheap prices too!

This is such a CUTE STORE! It really looks like an old time candy store. I bring my kids here as a treat after going to the shoreline park for ice cream. They serve Gunthers (I am from Sacramento) and its AWESOME! I don’t know of any other place in the east bay who serves Gunthers, so this is quite a treat! I read the review about the ice cream being bad, and frankly, I disagree. Gunthers has been around for a long time and has quite a following. The chocolate treats are made by the owners. The english toffee ROCKS! Marty says that his wife Carol makes it. There is another chocolate that they make that has coffee/​caramel and sea salt that is to DIE FOR! Why stand in lines at See’s when you can just walk right in and have immediate, personal service? They are really nice folks!
Please stay in Martinez forever!

I give this place three stars and not more because I was not so impressed with their ice-​cream. The marble fudge ice-​cream I had did not have much fudge, and the ice-​cream had ice flakes I could taste in it. I won’t be getting their ice-​cream again.
They do have a variety of other wonderful and unique treats though, and Marty, the owner is truly a very nice guy. A great place for sweet treats, not necessarily ice-​cream in my opinion. I do know others who frequent this store very often for ice-​cream though, so perhaps my standards are high.

ps– I consider myself an authority on ice cream because I have had top quality ice-​cream and frozen yogurt and know what they taste like.

Coming from Hayward, this place is a little gem in the far away town called Martinez.
I saw on Unilocal that there was an event happening on the weekend before school started — the Italian Street Art Festival! After a fun and what seemed like a long day of getting tipsy from the wonderful wine, my friend and I decided to roam the shops in downtown. Behind the tents were all these cool antique shops and after a little bit of browsing, we stumbled upon Main Street Sweets! What caught my attention was the ice cream. It was a bit of a hot day and I know I just wanted something cold. I didn’t want to buy a drink from the festival because they’re always so overpriced. Decided to stop in for some ice cream and look at what candies they got.
This candy store is a cute little place with all sorts of candies! I love the décor because it’s so «old school,» like from the 1940s or something! They have candies in cute jars and in cabinet drawers. They also have fresh cookies baked with looove. They had about 8 flavors of ice cream including the classic Vanilla, Strawberry, Mint, and more. I sampled the strawberry ice cream and it tasted more like ice to me. Decided to try to Vanilla next and it was yummy. I saw the pricing was $ 2 for a scoop; I was iffy on buying it because I’m so cheap. I was pretty desperate for something cold, so I got it. When he gave me that scoop of Vanilla, it was HUGE. Like half the size of my face! Definitely worth the $ 2! The little girl inside me was jumping inside — did I really just pay $ 2 for a huge scoop of ice cream? Oh yes, I did! I decided to sit outside with my friend to start eating the ice cream and chitchat while we sobered up. There’s a cute little chair & table right outside where you can just chill with the wonderful breeze blowing past you. It’s like those old vintage ice cream store tables/​chairs — so cute!
I would definitely come back again if I was in the area. Also, the owners seemed super sweet! Who can beat a huge scoop of ice cream that’s about half the size of your face for only $ 2?!

The sweet shop is a real treasure. The store is small and sort of feels like the Norman Rockwell illustration of the corner candy store. Although there were no stores like this where I lived when I was a child, I feel that I have been in this type of store many times.
There are jars filled with candy that you will not find anyplace else. They also make their own candy. There is an ice cream counter with several choices of Gunther’s Ice Cream. This ice has been made in Sacramento since the 1940s I always thought it was well worth the drive there for both the ice cream and the neon sign over the door. It’s a pleasure to be able to get the ice cream here

There is a hidden little sweet secret in Martinez that people don’t know about. I kept waiting to hear The Candy Man song being sung to Charlie Bucket.
Its so cute and quaint in here. I went straight for the Mint Chocolate Malt Balls and was able to scoop the perfect amount to share with my husband.
Then I saw the glass case with all of the Rocky Road. Mounds of Chocolate, Nuts and Marshmallow. I bought my husband a big hunk. They have so many different types of old timey candy too.
All the stuff that you thought were long gone. The owner was so nice and personable and we discussed kids and napping and of course caaaaannnnddyyy.
I keep telling my husband that if he walked in here his head would explode from all the yummy treats.

Great throwback to what candy stores used to be. The selections are plentiful, dark chocolates to sugar free, handcrafted to vintage. The owners, Marty and Carol (also an artist) are real down-​to-​earth people. Even their son gets into mix with his popular lemonade stand during many of Martinez’s street faires.

It’s like being a kid in a candy store… literally.
They have bins of candy everywhere. Grab a bag and fill it up with whatever your heart desires.
Sooo much to choose from. Many of the items you can only find in a specialty store such as this.
I stop by here whenever I’m in downtown Martinez. My weakness is the chocolate dipped strawberries. I don’t care how full I am from whatever meal I have just consumed… I gotta have my chocolate dipped strawberries!
Today, I was out of luck. Turns out, someone had bought up every last one! But, «WHY!!!» I cried. All I want is that sweet juicy deliciousness!!!
After calming my inner child, I settled for a chocolate turtle. So cute. So good.
I’ll be back… and I really hope that they have my chocolate dipped strawberries. I’d hate to have to throw another tantrum!