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By Meredith Brody in Brody, Sweet Beat

Tuesday, Mar. 24 2009 @ 5:45PM

Relatively good news on the sweet treat front led to not only a front page story (entitled "When Economy Sours, a Tootsie Roll Can Still Soothe the Soul") on Tuesday, March 22's New York Times, but also yielded the Quotation of the Day, boxed at the top of page A3: "All is well in candy land," from Jamie Hallman, identified as the "owner of a candy store in San Francisco, on an increase in sales during the economic downturn."

The store cited is Sweet Dish (2144 Chestnut) in the Marina. (It's a quote the Times liked so much they also boxed it on the jump on page 22.)

Another San Francisco store owner quoted in the piece is Diane Campbell, owner of the Candy Store on Vallejo (which made it into our Best Candy Stores in last year's Best of SF issue), who says that she's "tripled her orders for nostalgic candies like Necco Wafers and Mallo Cups [editorial comment: mmmm, Mallo Cups!] in recent months. Many of her customers tell her that even though they are living on less, they're setting aside cash for candy."

" 'They put candy in their actual budget,' she said."

The story is rife with good/bad news: it seems that many of our most popular candy bars were introduced during the Depression: Snickers in 1930, Tootsie Pops in 1931, Mars bars with almonds and Three Musketeers in 1932. "Candy companies are relatively recession-proof," is one sunny apercu.

And this year the trend towards higher-priced confections like gourmet truffles vs. low-end mass-market ones like Hershey's Kisses has reversed.

Perhaps what this country needs is a good 69-cent chocolate bar.

Tags: Marina