Inside Candy, Melbourne’s sweetest spot for local art, books, streetwear and coffee

Thornbury’s newest creative hub has a taste of everything.

We always have our eyes peeled for the best new retail offerings in Melbourne, Sydney and beyond. What makes a space stand out is when it goes beyond the function of a shopfront and acts as a hub for local and emerging creatives.

That’s exactly what drew us to Candy, the recently opened cafe-meets-gallery-meets-retail-store on Thornbury’s High Street. Formerly Lulu’s Records, the space had a full makeover and after its grand reveal in April, Candy has quickly established itself as a haven for all who appreciate locally-made art, books, apparel, music and of course, great coffee.

For more fashion news, shoots, articles and features, head to our Fashion section.

Inside, under a custom stained-glass window, you’ll find racks of shirts, sweaters and denim from Melbourne-born skateboard label, Hoddle, sunglasses by Radio Eyewear and one-off ceramics by Studio Ennui. You’ll find an impressive curation of art and photography books, including publications by FJ contributors like Imogen Wilson, Nicole Brannen, and Alana Hart.

After grabbing a coffee and a toastie, you’ll peruse the art on display in the adjoining Mom Gallery and likely hear the impassioned owner, Oscar O’Shea, tell you about an upcoming exhibition or gig. There’s a lot happening at Candy and a lot of love that went in to getting it off the ground. Here we speak to Oscar about the collaborative process and his future plans.

Hi Oscar, congratulations on the opening! Can you tell me a bit about how the vision for Candy came about?

Thank you! It was a strange process honestly, I started Mom Gallery out the back of the space in mid 2023 and I never had any intention of doing anything more than that at this location. Then the crew from Lulu’s Records (who had the main shop before) decided it was time to move on, so I started thinking of ways to keep the gallery running whilst utilising the space out the front. That’s become Candy.

How did you settle on the name?

For some reason, I really wanted to name it a person’s name, just not my own. My friend Jim McCullough and I were firing names at each other one day and he said Candy, and I knew that would be the name as soon as he said it. So thanks to Jim for that one.

Tell me about the people you collaborated with in bringing the space to life. Who did you work with?

A few people are on the team and in the background, I co-own the shop with three friends, Albert Wolski, Fin Bradley and Jarred Kennedy. They jumped on once I had the concept fully laid out and then just let me run wild with ideas. They’ve been able to really help me pull them all together to make them work in the space. They also are all older and a bit more business-savvy, which helps as I’m very new to it all! 

In the day-to-day, Robyn Daly and Archie Shannon have been huge contributors. I know zero about hospitality or retail, so they have come in and made it actually work and make sense. On top of that, I had a lot of help from friends getting it ready – from painting, building and plumbing, to late-night phone calls pulling me out of tailspins of doubt and doom.

How would you describe the aesthetic and feel of Candy?

As much as I didn’t want it to, its aesthetic seems to be a sub-sector of my own, a lot of the visuals and layout seem to jump from the 1970s through to the early 2000s. Someone described it pretty early on as looking like a ’90s St Kilda cafe – I grew up in St Kilda and always loved the weirdness and ambiguity of venues down there, so I’m happy with that comparison.

What can people expect to find in-store?

Really, really good coffee, toasties and cakes (that my adorable little sister bakes). Then we have seven retailers selling their goods and products: Fiend (art books), Hoddle (skateboards and apparel), Lulu’s (vinyl records and cassettes), Mom (art books and merchandise), Steel City (vinyl records and apparel), Studio Ennui (ceramics) and Hillvale (35mm film). It’s a big mix of different brands and offerings but everything seems to complement each other. 

Tell me a bit about your fashion offering – who do you currently have on the racks? 

Our main apparel offerings come from Hoddle – the city’s and maybe the country’s best skateboard company right now – but outside of their skate team and boards, they’re making really amazing, high-quality clothing and apparel items, from knitted jumpers, button-ups and shorts all the way to denim jackets and jeans.

Couldn’t be happier to have them involved with Candy, it felt like a really good fit from the get-go. We also have some great merch offerings from all the vendors involved and a bunch of new fashion options coming to the store soon we hope!

You’re also putting on live gigs and events. What do you have coming up?

Yeah we’ve had a couple of really great shows, [musicians] 3NDLES5 and Fatshaudi most recently. Coming up we have Melbourne folk/indie rock band Who Cares? and then The Twerps very own Martin Frawley is planning something in here very soon as well, so stay tuned, there will be lots of shows this year!

Do you have a favourite part of the space?

Can’t really beat sitting in the front window, it’s so nice when the sun’s out and cosy as when it’s cold or rainy.

What do you love about the neighbourhood and what has the response from locals been like?

I’ve been living in or spending most of my time in Thornbury for the last six years and I think it’s the best suburb in Melbourne. It’s changed a lot over the years but places like Candy are a part of that change, and I hope we’re adding something good to the neighbourhood I love. 

The response from locals has been really nice. Being able to have these people from the area that choose us for their coffee or lunch a few days a week is something I’m not taking for granted. And it seems anyone who comes once is coming back again, so that’s all I can ask for.

Where can people find you and what are your store hours?

We’re at 905 High Street, Thornbury. We’re open Monday through Sunday, 8am to 3pm. Plus some late boozy Friday and Saturday nights here and there 😉

Keep up with all the latest from Candy here.