New family-owned sweet shop opens in SLO County. ‘We do it all with a smile’
For those looking for a new place to indulge a sweet tooth, look no further than Hubbalicious Sweet Shoppe in Arroyo Grande.
The new candy and sweet treat shop is located at 110 E. Branch St. The shop first opened on Dec. 3, and is owned by longtime Arroyo Grande residents David and Kristin Hubbell.
The Hubbells were looking for the next chapter of their lives and wanted to own a business that had a fun, family friendly atmosphere. After noticing a lack of sweet shops in the Village, the Hubbells decided opening their own was their next step.
“I’m just excited to do something that the whole family can do,” David Hubbell told The Tribune.
Kristin Hubbell makes the fudge and many of the in-house sweets. In the 10 months of construction, the Hubbells tested and perfected fudge recipes in their kitchen and had many of their daughter’s high school friends sample the fudge, he said.
“We made it literally every day in our kitchen trying to figure out what worked and what didn’t work,” David Hubbell said.
Now, the shop carries fudge, truffles and chocolates, ice cream, candy apples and a wide variety of different candies — sourced by the Hubbells’ candy broker.
Hubbalicious Sweet Shoppe also formed a partnership with the Tulare-based Rosa Brothers to bring their ice cream to the Central Coast.
Hubbell said he hopes that the shop can become a “much loved part of the community.” Beyond that, Hubbell said he wants to build a business that can be passed down to his children.
In addition to providing sweet treats for the community, Hubbell said they hope to give back to the community they have lived in and raised their children in for the last 25 years.
On Jan. 21, the Hubbalicious Sweet Shoppe took part in a blood drive for Matteo’s Journey — an event started by community members to celebrate a local boy’s 5 year cancer-free anniversary.
To bring community members to the event, Hubbalicious offered a free piece of fudge for anyone who donated blood. Many other local businesses and restaurants participated in the event as well.
In the future, Hubbell says the family hopes to open a wholesale department on some of the candies they make in house and build a taffy pulling window. Additionally, Hubbell said, he hopes they can create an e-commerce website where customers can order their sweets to be shipped.
Hubbell said it has been exciting to get to know members of the community and share their journey.
“We are doing our best to have fun with everything we are doing,” Hubbell said. “We do it all with a smile.”
