Following a successful pop-up near Union Square, the popular candy megastore It'Sugar (pronounced It's Sugar, FYI) is opening a big new location next to Fisherman's Wharf on Friday. The store takes over a two-story space formerly occupied by the Rainforest Cafe and, later, Lefty O'Doul's — the onetime Union Square hofbrau that relocated here with much fanfare in 2018 before closing in 2019.
The SF Business Times has the news of the new candy emporium, which is taking a lease at 145 Jefferson Street, next door to Madam Tussaud's Wax Museum. Attached to the former Lefty O'Doul's was a ground-level Giants Dugout store, and It'Sugar will be taking over both spaces. This is the chain's seventh Bay Area location to date, and it will join a smaller location just two blocks away at 333 Jefferson Street — it's unclear if the company plans to keep that location indefinitely, or what. The pop-up location at 2 Stockton Street, in the former Forever 21 store, remains open and will likely close around the end of this year.
"We are extremely excited to bring the ultimate sugar high to one of the world's most visited tourist attractions — Fisherman's Wharf — with our largest store yet," said It'Sugar founder and CEO Jeff Rubin in a press statement. “Our massive candy department store will be a feast for the senses, offering a unique experience unlike any other and solidifying our commitment to bringing pure joy to people everywhere."
Based in Florida, It'Sugar now has around 100 locations around the country, and serves as a kind of one-stop-shop for sugary treats across an array of popular brands. Per the Business Times, this new, nearly 30,000-square-foot store will feature familiar store sections devoted to Kellogg's products, Sour Patch Kids, Oreos, Skittles, and M&Ms, as well as a more diverse array focusing on popular Asian brands and flavors. Those will include Pocky, Kit Kat, Hi-Chew, Ramune, and Top Ramen, as well as varieties of mochi and bubble tea.
The complex at 145 Jefferson was home to the Rainforest Cafe from around the time of its construction in the late 90s until the restaurant closed in 2017. Restaurateur Nick Bovis, who in 2020 became the subject of a federal corruption probe stemming from his business relationship with former SF Dept. of Public Works head Mohammed Nuru, relocated Lefty O'Doul's here after an extended battle with a Union Square landlord in the last decade. It would close around the same time as Bovis's other business at the Wharf, the Gold Dust Lounge, which had similarly relocated from Union Square to 165 Jefferson Street a couple of years earlier.
