New Orleans is known for its indulgent lifestyle; sultry music, flowing booze and debauchery in all shapes and sizes. But when Melissa Greenhouse and her family moved from California to New Orleans last year, they noticed one epicurean indulgence missing: candy. Embracing the city’s flair for excess, she set out to change that. Thus, Le Bonbon, a bright, conspicuous candy shop was born right in the heart of bustling Magazine Street. I got the chance to chat briefly with Melissa about how it all came together.
When and why did you decide to open Le Bonbon? While looking for a house and a place to enroll the kids in school, we noticed a lack of candy stores here in New Orleans. Back in California, there are so many fun shops that we love and wanted to bring here. We would often go to Little Tokyo, where we fell in love with the adorable little Kawaii toys and candy. We also loved one shop that sold ONLY stickers. It was really unique and felt really special. Sometime in the fall of 2024, our agent found us our current space that we just love and turns out is two blocks from our home. We can’t wait to bring more of our ideas to New Orleans.
Do you have a business partner? If so, who and what is your relationship? We are a family business, so my partners are my husband and my three children.
The shop is full of bright colors; what was your design inspiration? We were lucky enough to find a space that was already painted one of our favorite colors-green! From there, we knew that we had to add some fun candy colors. Our inspiration came from some of our favorite candy and ice cream shops in California and Vegas, as well as Little Tokyo in downtown LA.
Tell us how party supplies became part of the shop? I just love a unique party supply and find that they aren’t easy to come by. I like to give my kids fun napkins in their school lunches for holidays and special occasions and had a hard time finding cute ones. I also adore our sparkly candles and surprise piñatas for something unique that you can’t just find anywhere.
What’s your favorite item in the shop? That’s so hard! For gummies, I love our California Gummy Bears. For chocolate, I love anything Venchi and then I just love the Rilakkuma bears as gifts!
You can find Le Bonbon at 3115 Magazine Street and online @lebonbon_nola.
