Inside LA’s massive candy warehouse

For a 5-year-old, walking into Jack’s Candy in downtown Los Angeles is equal parts dream come true and sensory overload.

The downtown LA candy store, believed to be the largest in America, spans a massive 42,000 square feet and carries roughly 10,000 items, with aisle after aisle of chocolate, gummies, lollipops, Mexican sweets, nostalgic favorites, and enough brightly colored sugar to make choosing one thing nearly impossible.

So I brought my daughter Navy along to put the selection to the test.

At first, she did what any kid faced with thousands of options would do: ran from aisle to aisle, grabbing candy and chocolate, changing her mind and discovering something new every few feet.

There were oversized treats, familiar favorites and plenty of things she had never seen before. The only problem was narrowing it all down.

After some serious deliberation, Navy eventually settled on three very different picks.

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First up was cotton candy, an easy choice. Then came a giant plastic tiger filled with fruit-shaped containers of different fruit juices, an item that was as much toy as treat.

Her final selection was a Paleta Payaso, the popular Mexican marshmallow lollipop covered in chocolate and decorated with a colorful candy face.

For Navy, the hardest part wasn’t finding something she wanted. It was deciding what she didn’t.

Jack’s Candy has been a fixture in downtown Los Angeles for decades and today operates as both a wholesale and retail candy destination. The business says its shelves contain thousands of American and Mexican sweets, along with bulk candy and party supplies.

After making several laps through the store, Navy finally left with her three winners and a newfound understanding of an important childhood lesson: There is such a thing as too much candy to choose from.