Karla-Frukt

Karla-​Frukt or Karla «fruit» is more like a candy store than a fruit store. They have a small bit of fruit inside, but it’s not exactly the main focus. The star of the show is definitely sugar, but they also carry gift items, coffee and tea as well! I’ve always walked past this store and wondered about the contents – always when it’s way too late in the evening to come in and explore. It has a cute little retro sign and a vintage store front that I’ve always thought looked very charming. I guess a lot of the displays inside are original to this very old little store. The boulevard that it sits on is peaceful and is the perfect location to travel back in time a little too! I finally found a little time of my own to stop in and I had mixed feelings about the place. I really wanted to find a cute little old-​time inspired gift store here, but what I found was a bit confusing. I think Karla-​Frukt has all the ingredients for success, but somehow falls short on the delivery. I think this place could work if It became a more polished and packaged concept – taking inspiration from the fruit and gift store «Harry & David» in the US. They need to find a way to make this place attractive and functional for today without just being a historic landmark. The staff was wonderfully helpful and I was pleased with their assistance, but the environment was the main detractor for me. The display cases and tables were very undesigned without signage, branding or good organization. There was random gift items, chocolates, candies, fruit and teas of all different brands strewn about on the original old furniture that didn’t match. I get that a lot of the displays are original, but maybe there is a way to clean it up a little nicer for 2015. I don’t think that this place functions for today as well as it would have in the 1920’s. It doesn’t have enough of a «hook,» design or unique product in the store to make it appealing over just heading to ICA down the street.
You can order tea or coffee here, but there is no menu out to tell you that or what kinds they offer! They do make their coffee with Johan & Nyström beans though, which is a plus if you do figure out that they serve coffee here at all. The quality of some of the products are very nice. I liked that they had all kinds of good teas on display! I even took a hot tea and some cute cupcake shaped and polka-​dotted french truffles home. Unfortunately, the lid on my cup of tea leaked terribly and by the time I made it two blocks away I had tea all down the front of my clothing. I also got home and wanted to share the chocolates I purchased with my significant other and found that they were all squished up (even though I had been very careful!) The woman had thrown them all carelessly in a paper bag… no box! So sad!!! They were so cute when I bought them! =(
I think this place needs a designed eye to come in here and clean it up a bit. I could use some branding, signage and proper packaging for their products at the very least. I like the idea of fruit and candy together, I just think there is so much more you could do with a place like this!