QuickPHX: Sweet

QuickPHX: Candyland

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Sugar, Baby
Have you noticed? From Camelback Road to Grand Avenue, someone's sprinkled Pixy Stix on our city.

At the southern end of this sweet spot, Emily Spetrino-Murtagh and Liam Murtagh are spinning a lot of plates as owners of Sweets and Beats. At their funky shop, they're selling candy, they're selling vinyl records, they're scheduling programming, and they're showcasing local artists on the shop walls. They are a DIY dynamic duo, right down to the thrift-store tables they've painted in red and black enamel, to go with bright green walls and piles of retro candy favorites like Bit-O-Honey and Pop Rocks, gag gifts, and funky T-shirts.

The overall effect is carnival-esque with bits of vintage punk rock and quirky-weird thrown in for good measure.

Believe it or not, the color scheme for the store came from a bottle of Gold Bond Medicated Body Lotion. "I was in my mom's bathroom and I was, like, 'That's the prettiest thing I've ever seen,'" Emily says. "I was, like, 'This is our store. I want to paint my whole store this color green.'"

Every second and fourth Tuesday, Sweets and Beats hosts a comedy hour. And on the third Saturday of every month, it hosts a morning shop 'n' swap — like a spontaneous flea market — with next-door neighbor Trunk Space in their conjoined backyards.

The store is open from 5 to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 5 to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Good for a late-night sweet tooth fix, a clean shirt, or a can of fart spray.
1504 Grand Ave., 602-253-9258, myspace.com/sweetsandbeats

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Mary Coyle Old-Fashioned Ice Cream
Just shy of its 60th birthday, this creamy parlor is about more than fudge ripple, Marshmallow Fluff, and some nice sprinkles. It's about Oreo Ice Cream Pie. It's about the transcendence of two scoops of Fresh Honey Banana (also available in a takeaway half-gallon) in a chocolate-dipped sugar cone. And the endless joys of the Mary Coyle drive-through, where cold dessert treats are yours without ever leaving your car.
5521 N. 7th Ave., 602-265-6266, marycoyle.net

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Smeeks
Their slogan ("A sweet little shop for sweet little folks") doesn't fool us for a minute. We're neither little nor especially sweet, and yet we can't get enough of this cool candy store, where we splurge as often as we can on treats from our past (candy cigarettes, anyone?) and present (real toffee!). Sometimes, if our sweet tooth is aching, we hang out at Smeeks just to ogle the retro lunch pails (Twinkie the Kid! King Ding Dong!) or to pop into the funky photo booth for some quick candids. Fun!
14 W. Camelback Rd., 602-279-0538, smeeks.net

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CANDY

Cactus Candy Company
3010 N. 24th St.
602-956-4833
cactuscandy.com

See's Candy
132 E. Camelback Rd.
602-266-1727
sees.com

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BAKED

Karsh's Bakery
5555 N. 7th St.
602-264-4874
karshsbakery.com

Tammie Coe Cakes
610 E. Roosevelt St., Ste. 145
602-253-0829
tammiecoecakes.com

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FROZEN

Chill Out Gelato Cafe
610 E. Roosevelt St.
602-254-6387

Culver's
825 E. Camelback Rd.
602-595-7876
culvers.com

MacAlpine's Soda Fountain
2303 N. 7th St.
602-262-5545
macalpines1928.com

Pink Spot
49 W. Thomas Rd.
602-265-3889
pinkspoticecream.com

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Coffee Star
Copper Star Coffee owner Bill Sandweg was, as he puts it, "looking for something to do" four years ago when he spotted the abandoned Chevron gas station on Seventh Avenue. The 40-year-old four-pump just around the corner from Sandweg's house had been vacant for some time, and something about it hollered "Coffee house!" to the former restaurant manager, who snatched up the property and "nicened it up."

Nice, indeed. Copper Star is a neighborhood café with a casual ambiance — a big sofa in the middle of the room; a lot of long, wide tables; outdoor seating and free Wi-Fi. Rather than a long list of candied coffee confections, Copper Star's baristas brew a bold, tasty everyday blend — Sandweg calls it the "aroma blend" — an all-purpose medley of local, fresh-roasted beans. The cafe's espresso drinks are made with milk from Yuma's Sarah Farms, and its pastry case is jammed with tasty treats, every last one of them baked on the premises and priced — get this — at two bucks apiece.

"We grind to order and brew a fresh pot every 10 or 15 minutes," Sandweg says. "I want people to feel at home, and good coffee is a big part of that. Let's face it: You wouldn't make a bad cup of coffee for yourself at home. Right?"
4220 N. 7th Ave., 602-266-2136, copperstarcoffee.com

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Cartel Coffee Lab
More than just another coffee shop, Cartel (which just opened its newest location downtown) is more like a coffee religion. Cartel makes its own joe, offered for sale here, using beans from farms in Guatemala and Brazil, and java fans who can't wait till they get home can have a cuppa right there, loafing on a comfy couch and enjoying free Wi-Fi service.
1 N. 1st St., 480-225-3899, cartelcoffeelab.com

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Fair Trade Café
Fair Trade's new location, in the courtyard level of the A.E. England Building in Civic Space Park, is just as swell as its original Trinity Cathedral locale. These folks brew only fair-trade, organic, great-tasting coffees and espressos from around the world, and every small batch is hand-roasted by Tucson-based Adventure Coffee Roasters. Fair Trade's ever-changing art gallery and roster of live bands and poetry readings set it apart from the coffee crowd — and we call that more than Fair.
1020 N. 1st Ave., 602-354-8150 424 N. Central Ave., 602-253-6912, azfairtrade.com