{"id":854079,"date":"2026-03-22T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-22T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=854079"},"modified":"2026-03-22T17:06:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T15:06:07","slug":"the-iconic-store-that-quietly-disappeared-from-shopping-malls-across-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/854079\/the-iconic-store-that-quietly-disappeared-from-shopping-malls-across-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"The iconic store that quietly disappeared from shopping malls across South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The iconic Sweets from Heaven candy store was once a staple in shopping malls across South Africa, but quietly disappeared amid major shifts in the retail environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sweets from Heaven was known for its bright colours and vast array of candies on display. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Customers would fill candy bags with their own selection of sweets, in any amounts they chose, and check out at the till, where their haul would be weighed and the total price tallied.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Founded 38 years ago in Johannesburg, the brand went into liquidation in 2022, where it was bought by KD Foods\u2014owned by popular South African musician Danny Koppel, better known as Danny K.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KD Foods was founded by Koppel in 2015, and produces sweet brands such as Knocker Doodle and Pengo, as well as the health-conscious snack range Good Heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although Sweets from Heaven was acquired by KD Foods only in 2022, Koppel had already acquired the trademark rights for Sweets from Heaven in 2016 and began “reinventing and repacking” the candy brand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Koppel, the Sweets from Heaven brand still operates a small number of stores in South Africa; however, its footprint has reduced over the last few years as the business adjusted to new retail conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The focus shifted from a large national store base to a “tighter, more efficient operation,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The Sweets from Heaven name still holds strong recognition with South African consumers. The brand remains active while work continues on product development and broader confectionery projects under KD Foods,” Koppel told BusinessTech.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the businessman, most of the Sweets from Heaven store closures were linked to changes in mall traffic and retail economics, as well as the harsh trading conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The pandemic had a large impact on impulse-driven categories such as confectionery kiosks and candy stores. Many malls saw lower foot traffic for a long period.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Rent structures and operating costs also changed. A number of locations no longer made commercial sense, so the network was rationalised,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Koppel said the long-term focus of the Sweets from Heaven brand is to grow the confectionery platform rather than focusing on retail stores.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The brand owned by a local musician<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Ten-year-old KD Foods is working on new confectionery ranges, packaging, and distribution channels for the Sweets from Heaven brand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Koppel said that retail remains a component of the strategy to expand the Sweets from Heaven confectionery platform, while broader plans to develop the brand are centred on packaged sweets and wholesale distribution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Our goal stays simple. Deliver the best product at the best price for our customers while keeping the fun and colour that made the category popular,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KD Foods, which offers a range from confectionery to healthy snacks, also holds the licensing rights for Disney\/Marvel foods and snacks in 22 countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“A large part of our business today sits in manufacturing and product development for several of the country\u2019s major retailers.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We work with a number of large retail groups on their confectionery private label programmes, and this has grown into a meaningful part of the KD Foods business,” said Koppel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Koppel said that although South Africa has a strong sweet culture, the health and wellness food sector is expanding, and his company has adapted to this shift.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KD Foods has started broadening its horizons beyond confectionery. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“While sweets remain an important part of the business, we are expanding into additional food categories.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Health-focused products represent one of the fastest growing sectors in food, and we have begun actively manufacturing products in and around the health category as part of that expansion,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The musician and CEO has a background in entertainment and the creative industry, which he highlights as a key element of his business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Creativity, storytelling, collaborations, and product innovation bring fresh energy into the confectionery category, and that creative approach has become an important differentiator for our business,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

KD Foods manufactures its products in South Africa, which, according to the brand, provides stability, supports quality control, and efficiently manages costs while benefiting the local economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Sweets from Heaven has all but disappeared from shopping malls across South Africa, but the brand lives on thanks to popular musician and businessman, Danny K, who has big plans for the brand.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":854219,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[25019,25017,25018],"class_list":["post-854079","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-danny-koppel","tag-kd-foods","tag-sweets-from-heaven"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854079","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=854079"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854079\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":854583,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854079\/revisions\/854583"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/854219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=854079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=854079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=854079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}