Local Candy Store Owner Shaken but Undaunted After Recent Armed Robbery

Last October, Bed-Stuy resident Stacy Desmond was thrilled to finally open her boutique candy store, Sugarfly Alley, on Franklin Avenue between Clifton Pl. and Green Ave.

She had recently moved back to Bed-Stuy as a newlywed in 2010, after living in the neighborhood once before in 2007. “And even in that short period, I saw how drastically the neighborhood had changed,” said Desmond. “I came in here thinking this is a new day for our neighborhood, and I’ve really felt safe and at home.”

But Desmond’s perspective on the neighborhood was turned upside-down in one instant— if even momentarily— when on Friday, August 26, her business partner who had her five-year-old son in the store was robbed at gunpoint.

Desmond recounts, as told to her by her partner, that the robber – who is described as an Hispanic male between 17 and 20 years old with curly hair, a striped tank, shorts and sneakers—walked into the store at around 3:20 p.m., shortly after the store opened.

“There was no look to him, and she didn’t feel threatened by him at all,” said Desmond. “Her son was sitting right there. He came in and asked for lollipops and then left. Then, like 5 minutes later, he came back with what appeared to be a handgun in a black bag and said to her, ‘I’m going to need the register.’

“At first it just went over her head. She was like, What? You were just in here. But after he reached over to the register, she realized what was going on, and with her 5-year-old son sitting right next to him, she quickly went over to give him what he wanted. He then reached for the iPad, took the dollar out of the tip jar and walked right out.”

Desmond said witnesses saw the robber running down Franklin into Lafayette Garden Houses. She said 79th Precinct police have been very responsive: They came right away, checked video tapes and dusted the cash register and jars after observing the tapes.

“It was only $11 and an iPad. But for me, it was more than $11 and an iPad; it’s my business,” she said. “I was pretty nervous and shaken, because there was a child in the store. And all I could think of was her son and the impact it was going to have on him.

“This is a business for the neighborhood, children and their families,” she said. “My thing is, parents teach their kids how to budget and shop in candy stores; a lot of times that’s how they learn how to count money. It’s like they see the candy store and they give their kids a dollar, send them in here by themselves and tell them to count their change. 

"So it’s like, now how are they going to feel knowing that this man came in here?" she said, her eyes welling up.

Desmond said, after the incident, she considered closing the shop and going somewhere to have a Margarita. But the police officers encouraged her to keep going.

“They said, ‘No. Do not let them intimidate you. You’re going to open your doors and continue business as usual.’ 

"And everyone in the neighborhood has been really supportive: They’re like, ‘We don’t know how much you lost, and I don’t really eat candy, but I’m going to buy something today.’

“So when my partner said, 'It’s okay, let’s go ahead,' that really made me feel like, You know what, just continue to move forward with faith.

“We’re going to open today; we’re opening tomorrow. We’re going to open as usual. 

“And that’s what we’ve done.”