Traditional chocolate favorites will share space on candy shelves with several new introductions during Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas.
le items, retailers told SN.
Chris Ahearn, corporate communications manager at Food Lion, Salisbury, N.C., expects this year's big sellers to be branded items like Snickers, M&Ms and Hershey kisses.
"At Halloween, M&M/Mars, Snickers, Three Musketeers and Milky Way in the 14-ounce bags should be great, in addition to Hershey Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and Kit Kats," said Tom Yarrows, category manager at Big Y Foods, Springfield, Mass.
Chocolate mints should generate some sales during Thanksgiving and Christmas, he added.
Other seasonal-specific candies, like those from Palmer and Brach's, are anticipated to drive sales at Nob Hill Foods, Gilroy, Calif., said Bridgette Jones, company spokeswoman.
Kids' novelties are stirring excitement at P&C Foods, Syracuse, N.Y., Quality Markets, Jamestown, N.Y., and Insalaco Markets, DuBois, Pa., according to Dave Moulton, candy buyer.
"For Christmas, there's a lot more of the novelty candies for kids. That's a really big plus for the candy business in the grocery stores," he said.
Like Big Y's Yarrows, Moulton promotes chocolate mints for Christmas and Thanksgiving. "We normally buy prepacked displays of mints for the holidays," he said.
Besides the surge in kids' novelties, retailers and wholesalers are looking toward boxed chocolates and low-fat chocolate items to ring in additional sales.
