Walgreens has a cult ‘peelable’ candy, courtesy of a Tik Tok craze
CNN
It’s tiny, squishy, chewy, shaped like a cute baby mango and GenZers have gone crazy over it. Walgreen’s can’t keep it in stock.
It’s tiny, squishy, chewy. It’s shaped like a cute baby mango and GenZers have gone crazy over it. Walgreens can’t keep it in stock. For the beleaguered drugstore chain, the odd “Gummy Mango” candy is a much-needed win. It arrived last fall in about 2,500 of its 8,700 US stores, and quickly sold out because, of course, TikTok. Online, Walgreens imposed a limit of one bag per customer on the little inventory that remained. The unexpectedly viral product comes at a time that Walgreens has a lot on its plate that isn’t fun – debt piling up, employee unrest, competitors grabbing market share, store closures, its shoppers spending less on things they don’t need. It’s also juggling with having to keep everyday items like shampoos and shaving cream locked up over theft concerns, much to the annoyance of customers. Walgreens sorely needed some – any – good news. Fortunately, the mango-flavored treat plays into the company’s long-term strategy of beefing up its front-of-store departments, said Morningstar analyst Keonhee Kim. The product itself is a $1.99 bag of candy belonging to an on-trend genre of confectionery called gummy candies. This candy from Walgreens’ lower-priced Nice! house brand of snacks and drinks is different because it’s actually peelable. In early January, a video explaining its uniqueness by TikToker @Trinhdoesthings got a whopping 8.9 million views.