Halloween Candy Shop on West 3rd: Sockerbit Skull Bags

Sockerbit at 7922 W 3rd St is the Los Angeles Halloween candy shop for anyone who would rather hand out sour foamy skulls than another fun-size bar. The Swedish candy store sits on the busy West 3rd Street strip in Beverly Grove, a few blocks from the Original Farmers Market, and its wall of clear pick-and-mix bins turns October shopping into a scoop-it-yourself project.

Sockerbit means sugar cube in Swedish. The company was founded in 2010 by Florence Baras and Stefan Ernberg, a couple who met while working at a candy company in Europe and moved to the United States to introduce lördagsgodis, the Swedish habit of picking a bag of mixed candy every Saturday. They started with a New York flagship and opened the Los Angeles store on West 3rd Street in 2014.

The brand now wholesales to thousands of stores, including Target, Sprouts and World Market, and a second company store is announced as coming soon at One Colorado in Pasadena. The West 3rd shop is still the place to see the full range in one room, and Sockerbit says its candy is made without high fructose corn syrup or trans fats and with natural colors, which matters to parents reading labels at the bins.

Inside, the store keeps the Scandinavian look of the brand: pale wood, white walls and long rows of clear bins that make the colors of the candy do all the decorating. Sockerbit calls West 3rd its very first store in LA, and the company still describes the Saturday pick-and-mix as the center of everything it sells, so the bins rather than the packaged pouches are the real reason to come in person.

Swedish candy has always leaned toward skulls, so October is easy here. On Sockerbit's online shop, the 2.8-ounce bags of Foamy Sour Scary Skulls, Strawberry Frightful Fangs, Sneaky Snakes sour gummies and Sour Foamy Lips N Skulls are $4.95 each, a good preview of what fills the store bins. The fangs are soft strawberry gummies shaped like vampire teeth, and they disappear first at any costume party.

For a ready-made mix, the Spooky Gummy Mix candy pouch is $14, and the Bubs Raspberry Licorice Skulls and Bubs Sour Cola Skulls bags are $12 each. Bubs is one of the best-known Swedish makers, and its foamy skulls have a chewy, airy texture that American gummies rarely match. Jelly Mice at $4.50 add a slightly creepy touch to a bowl without any gore.

Once Halloween passes, the shelves turn to the winter holidays fast. Sockerbit's Advent calendar, which holds two pounds of candy with a bigger treat each Saturday in honor of lördagsgodis, is $125 in either the original beige or the multi-color design, and one-pound gift boxes of the sweet, sour or foamy mixes are $30. Shoppers who plan ahead often buy the Halloween bag and the Advent calendar on the same trip.

Every Halloween bowl needs a dare, and Sockerbit stocks Nordic salty licorice that works perfectly as one. Turkish Peber, the hard peppery salmiak candy with a powder center, is $6 online, and Malaco Djungelvrål salty monkeys are $5. Hand one to a friend who claims to like black licorice and watch the reaction; most adults have never tasted ammonium chloride candy before.

If someone in the group avoids gelatin, the store sells gelatin-free sweet, sour and sweet-and-sour mixes at $12 a bag online, and Sockerbit says it carries vegan and gluten-free mixes as well. Ask the staff which bins are gelatin-free before you scoop, since the pick-and-mix wall mixes both kinds side by side. That makes this one of the easier candy stops for a mixed group of trick-or-treaters with dietary needs.

Grab a paper bag and a scoop at the start of the wall and move in one direction, which keeps the line flowing when families crowd in after school. Take two or three pieces of anything new before committing a full scoop, because Swedish sours are often much sharper than American ones. Keep chocolate-coated pieces like strawberry foam bars on top of the bag so heavier gummies do not crush them.

The store is open every day from 11am to 8pm, so evening visits work well for adults coming from work. Weekend afternoons draw Farmers Market crowds, and the week before Halloween brings families planning party favors. Halloween 2026 falls on a Saturday, so the Thursday or Friday before is the smartest time to stock up. Bags weigh more than they look; set a budget before you start scooping.

The Original Farmers Market at Third and Fairfax is the obvious next stop, with produce stands, old-school lunch counters and a fall feel to its covered aisles. Right beside it, The Grove's open-air shopping street and trolley make a festive place to walk with children in costume during the Halloween week.

Pan Pacific Park, just north of the market, has lawns and a playground where kids can run off the sugar. Heading west along West 3rd brings you to small boutiques and cafes, including Joan's on Third for coffee and pastries, while the Beverly Center sits at the far end of the street for anyone who needs a last-minute costume piece. The whole loop is flat and easy on foot.

Sockerbit, at 7922 W 3rd St, Los Angeles, CA 90048, sits in Beverly Grove between Fairfax Avenue and Crescent Heights Boulevard. Hours are Monday to Sunday, 11am to 8pm. Prices quoted above come from Sockerbit's online shop; in-store pick-and-mix is sold by weight at the counter.

Metro bus lines on Fairfax and Third stop nearby, and metered street parking lines West 3rd, though it fills on weekends; the Farmers Market garage is an alternative. Bring a reusable bag for a big haul, and keep sour candy away from chocolate in the car on a warm October day. For more Los Angeles Halloween plans around Beverly Grove, ask the Karpo APP for nearby costume shops, haunted houses and family events.