At a post-Series sale, I picked up two vintage packs of Topps baseball cards (15 cards plus one stick of bubble gum; $1). The '88 lacks snap, I quickly found, as this downsized stick (roughly half as large as the great vintages of the early '70s) crumbled in my mouth; the '89 is also well past its prime. As for the players, at least one of them still has a little snap on his curveball.
This is a great place to poke around for a few minutes; Economy is stacked floor to ceiling with sweets you'd utterly forgotten. Near the front door you can mix and match a bagful of "old-time candy" ($1.49 per pound), in my case equal scoops of Mary Janes, Walnettos, Bit-O-Honeys, and root beer barrels. Candy fruit slices ($2.99 per pound) were less satisfying; the version here tastes too much of pectin.
Zotz (strip of four; 75 cents) were one of my childhood favorites. Each fruit-flavored hard candy surrounds flavored sodium bicarbonate that fizzes out in a slow leak — until you give in and bite through to the center.
Economy Candy
108 Rivington St. (Essex-Ludlow Sts.)
212-254-1531
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