The Lolly Shop

While I often like to splurge on one or two pieces of upscale chocolates from a local fancy pants chocolatier, sometimes all I want is a piece of low grade sugar to satisfy my sweet tooth and this place fills that niche in a rather special way.
I’m the type of person who just wants to buy one or two small piece of candy to satisfy that sweet tooth craving, but don’t want to drown my sorrow in a whole bag of the stuff. So I was in luck, because here you can buy lower end candies by weight (just like how many places sell expensive luxurious chocolates). Now if you are scarfing down 500 candies, buying by weight is a sure way to go bankrupt. However, if you just want one or two pieces, buying by weight means you get to spend around 20 — 50 cents to satisfy your sweet tooth, while still getting some variety! I often buy just one chocolate covered malt ball and two or three chocolate covered dried fruit pieces or nuts. It’s a great way to get rid of loose change in your pocket.
In addition, I’m from the US and I have to say, sometimes I miss American candy brands. Well, then this place has my back! Sour patch kids, Hershey’s, Reese’s. You name it they’ve got it.

I have a love-​hate relationship with the lolly shop.
1) All the candies always look amazing. I have trouble picking which lolly I want because everything sounds so good. I could gain so much weight trying all the candies in here. They have a good mix of Australian and international lollies with lots of drinks and ice creams in the back. This is one of the two places I have found across all of Brisbane that serves my American candy.
2) The prices are insane. I come here to get my American brand candy (Reese’s) which costs 4AUD for a king pack. I pay 1.50USD for these back home and shouldn’t pay more than 2AUD here. The other candy prices are quite expensive as well, 7 dollars for a pack of Tim Tams that you can get at Coles for 3.50 max.
3) The names of all of the lollies gets me confused. I have tried many of the chocolate covered candies (honeycomb, pineapple, peanut, cherry, etc) and none of them were what I expected. I was constantly shocked by the texture of the inside, either too tough or too slimy or too chewy, NOT like what that type of candy should be. This was disappointing. Flavors were good though, I won’t deny that.
4) Service is kinda snooty to me here. The employees don’t seem to be as friendly as other shops in the nearby area. This is a disappointment because I think it should be fun to work in a candy shop, but clearly the employees do not believe so.
The lolly shop is good for an on campus lolly shop (something we don’t particularly have at u most U.S. campuses) but it doesn’t suite to students’ budgets and getting candies at Coles would be better pricing.

Curse the Lolly Shop! It’s a very intelligently placed sugar den that lures me in EVERY time. On the way to the ferry, on the way from the ferry, on the way to lectures, on the way from lectures…
Lollies serve several life purposes. You just can’t go past getting a bag of clinkers and sitting at the bustop eating them until you hit a yellow or green one (why are they mostly always pink?). It’s an excellent time taker-​upperer. The bag o’ lollies is also a great tool for making friends in lectures. «Hey, you want a chocolate coated strawberry?» (the ones who say «no», obviously have poor taste and aren’t worthy of being your mate anyhow).
They charge you per the kilogram for the sugar treats. You can usually walk out with a decent sugar pile for around $ 2-​$ 5. You can also get handy things like cookies, gum, mi gorengs and other useful student supplies there.
My only complaint might be that the staff are often super surly. They don’t say hello or use their manners. Maybe they’re suffering from a constant sugar crash. Who knows. All I know is that you have to suffer their service to get to the lollies, and we all know that nothing, NOTHING should stand in the way of a student and their brain food.

Honestly, I really doubt that there’s any situation in which lollies aren’t appropriate, but I think we all know that when exams and assignments abound, a crinkly paper bag full of lollies really isn’t optional, it’s essential.
Pulling an all-​nighter in the computer labs at uni really only has one bright side and obviously that’s convincing yourself that you definitely deserve a massive pick’n’mix bag of sugar to keep you going (and then make you crash, but that’s easily solved with more lollies). Whoever decides what kind of shops will thrive at UQ obviously knows all this and probably got a huge raise because this lolly shop is never empty. In fact, the queue is often so long that they’ve put up signs asking you to have your wallet and money ready to minimise everybody’s waiting time.
The UQ Lolly Shop has a very, very good selection of both pre-​packaged lollies and pick’n’mix. They also stock lots of imported treats as well as ice creams, chips, drinks, two minute noodles, and anything else that you need to soothe those assessment-​related worries. I credit the UQ lolly shop with singlehandedly boosting my GPA by at least one point.

Gosh, whose idea was it to plant a lolly shop right on campus where everyone could see? That’s just a sugary death wish. I love how the UQ website classifies the Lolly Shop in the ‘places to eat’ category, even though it’s a UQ student’s regular place to top up on energy and gorge on sweets. At least, that’s why I go there, when I’m fixing for something super sweet.
Even before I went to UQ this shop was famous. I’d hear about the lolly-​lined walls with every flavour you could think of every which way you looked. It sounded like heaven. The reality is not so far off.
Having an English mum, I’ve come to appreciate English chockies and treats, and I’m so happy to say that UQ stocks some of these now and then. Mostly I just love going classic and loading up on clouds, jaffas, and red frogs. Leave it to a uni to try and better your brain while they help your teeth disintegrate.
Even if I didn’t like going to uni, the Lolly Shop would sure be an incentive to pop in now and then to escape on a sugary cloud. Sweet tooths beware, you may get carried away so try to limit yourself to one bag.

When I first lay eyes on the UQ Lolly shop, I felt like I was in a sugary heaven. The wall was lined with self serve lolly dispensers filled with everything from jelly beans, to those banana lollies, chocolate sprinkles, and honeycomb. Venturing further, I found a section dedicated to American Candy. Spotting the Reese’s Buttercups I could no longer resist and had to empty my wallet (even thought the import price makes them a little on the expensive side). They also stock Australian favourites like sherbet, Eucalyptus drops, Tim Tams and the like. But my oh my, it was the American Candy that had me hooked and returning to the Lolly Shop at the detriment of both my wallet and my wasteline.
The shop also stocks a few basics, like cup noodles, chips, etc. and a range of drinks and ice-​cream. As well as this they stock a few basic student needs like tissues, sunscreen, bug spray, panadol and the like. Situated in the Student Union Complex at the University of QLD St Lucia Campus, the Lolly shop is a favourite of many. They also have these amazing chocolate covered coffee beans. They uses to be in the same area as the rest of the self serve but after being ravaged by crazed studying students, you need to ask for them from behind the counter. There will be a line up here during busy periods (you can see the peaks between lectures as students stock up) but the lines move pretty quickly.
As I have been writing this I have finished off two Reese’s and think I will need to return to the Lolly Shop again in the near future.