Ever been to Dylan’s Candy Bar on the Upper East Side of New York City?  Since 2001, this 15,000 square foot flagship store has blossomed into 6 locations, with more on the way.  Because Dylan’s dad is Ralph Lauren and the space really is visually amazing, the chain has been profiled in Vogue, Town & Country, WSJ, Elle and others.  Life is sweet!

How to describe Dylan’s to the uninitiated?  It is jammed everyday with tourists with children, wealth Manhattanites with children, B&Ts with children and children with children.  Or maybe, just children.  Get the picture?  The place is the Candyland game come to life.  And it can be fun for adults sans kids, but only in a “I’ve heard this place is a spectacle so let’s go look at the $20 Elvis Pez dispensers and $325 ‘deluxe’ candy gift baskets.  Once.” kind of way.  And since my boyfriend and I had this very experience maybe 7 years ago, I’d lost track of the goings-on.

Who knew that Dylan’s has become an “authentic lifestyle” brand (according to the stores’ press kit)?  Who’s lifestyle, Willy Wonka?  But hey, whatever. 

But now, I’m wondering if all that candy has given the management team some sort of sugar coma:  part of the flagship’s top floor is being converted into a bar (see above pic).  That’s right.  A liquor license, the whole deal.  Dylan herself suggests that it will become a place where “hip New Yorkers can go for a first date or a nightcap.”  The conflicts are everywhere:  peppermint stools (not sexy).  Dylan’s comment that “We don’t want people getting drunk.”  The bar area being carefully cut off from the rest of the store after 5pm, because management is worried that 5 year old birthday party revelers might wander into happy hour.

It’s:  a bar!  Anyone who does show up… may get drunk!  And a place for a “first date?” Perhaps for, uh, those who - never mind.

More power to ‘em, but I think this is hilarious.  A real gaffe in terms of extending a brand into unnatural - and, in fact, needlessly damaging - territory.  I predict abject failure.*  I also predict that Dylan will bounce back and everything will be fine.  In the meantime, I’d suggest you move fast if you want to swing on a peppermint stool, drink peppermint schnapps and think drunken candy thoughts.

 * Except, maybe, in Dylan’s new Vegas location…