I'm guessing that you didn't visit Kikis when it used to be a store in downtown Palo Alto? It was a nice store although maybe not as much candy products as one would have thought. I believe now it is a storefront for purses, etc.

Actually, they are what they say they are: "Kiki's Candy Bar". See link: Web Link Only open to the public Fri/Sat and Sunday afternoons. More of a place to book and have a candy-themed parties. They do a lot of catered corporate events too. Locally owned, so throw them some business.

When Kiki's was downtown, my daughter used to love to go there. She would save up for a trip and go with her friends. Kiki's got priced out of downtown, though, and ended up moving out to retail Siberia. I can't imagine that they get any walk-in traffic out there on the Frontage Road.

My daughter wanted to work there when it was downtown, and as I recall they had quite a few Paly students working there part-time. The store was open 7 days a week when it was downtown too, meaning more job opportunities for our teens. Too bad their landlord priced them out of the downtown space.

They've got to be hurting for business because, like I said, their parking lot is nearly always empty. Early on, they were open only on weekends but with nary a soul on most weekends, they tried to open for business on weekdays. I don't think anybody's biting. This past weekend, I passed by the place at various times and never did see a car. In fact, the place was not even open!!!

Corporate events? Gee, I wonder what kind of candies they can throw at a bunch of adults.

Location, location, location. Like businesses before them, I'm afraid Kiki's will be forced to fold soon.

It was brought to our attention that there is some disinformation on the Palo Alto Online town blog about Kiki’s. First, we are in a new location, (Fabian Way, in the infamous “pink” building) due to a rent increase in our downtown location.

The motivation to move was also due to the fact that our parties and our corporate business accounted for nearly 75% of the business. By moving to the Fabian location we were able to take a 60% decrease in rent, provide plenty of parking to our customers and not to mention a bigger and venue to host our events. The new location used to be a restaurant, so we also have a commercial kitchen.

We are also very fortunate to have a strong corporate clientele, including Google that keeps us very busy with their party and custom gift bucket order needs. We still have a small area dedicated for retail, but mainly do events. We still specialize in children’s theme parties, but have also moved into Bar/Bat Mitzvahs, Sweet Sixteen and corporate events.

Summers do tend to be slow at Kiki’s, with a lot of off-site events, but picks up once school is back in session. We have been open 7 days a week during summer, but will go back to our Friday-Sunday hours next week once school is back in session.

If you have not checked out our new location, come take a peek! We still have those hard to find retro candies, candy cocktails, novelty candy and a unique and fun venue. We will also be launching Kiki’s Culinary Kapers, cooking classes for kids this fall. We are in the process of updating our web site to better inform our customers and plan to start an advertising campaign this fall.

Thanks for your interest in Kiki’s; I hope this clears up some of the mystery of what we are doing. If you are interested in being added to our mailing list so that you receive notification of our special events please go to our web site at www.kikiscandybar.com.

Have a Sweet Day!
Staff @ Kiki’s A Candy Bar

This place rocks! I had my sweet sixteen party there in April and it was awesome. Lots of candy, fun rooms with differnet themes, even their bathrooms were fun! There is no place like this for kids in Palo Alto and my friends thought this was by far the best party they had ever been to. They still talk about the party and I will have another party there next year!

Like my mom always says dont judge a book by its cover, go inside and you will see for yourself. They have the best candy around and will order special candy if they dont have it. The employees are super nice and cute too!

Kiki's closed down, the pink boulding is gone thanks to the great economy.

I remember when there was an Italian restaurant in that building. When they painted it pink and put up the Kiki's sign next to the freeway, I assumed it was a strip club. Never bothered to find out for sure.

Ha! The pink did scream "strip club"! I am not surprised it went out of business. It was a minimum of $450 to have a party there and it didn't seem that the price bought much. Plus, many Palo Alto parents are nutrition-conscious.

I heard it will be turned into a gym for some private school in Los Altos. They will bus the kids to PA for their athletic activities. Fitting, being that people who live in Los Altos often drive through Palo Alto to get to and from home and often come to Palo Alto for many classes and activities and Stanford. But hey, their lots are bigger.