This Tennessee Candy Shop Hands You An Empty Bag And Charges By The Pound
Somewhere in Tennessee there is a store that gives you a plastic bag, points at a wall of candy bins, and lets you decide how the rest of your afternoon goes. No menu, no set portions, no one telling you that four gummy worms is enough.
You scoop what you want, you weigh it at the register, and the number on the scale is the whole story. It sounds simple, and that is exactly why kids remember it and parents talk about it in the car all the way home.
A Candy Wall Inside Nashville’s Biggest Mall
Opry Mills sits on the east side of Nashville, just off Briley Parkway near the Grand Ole Opry, and inside it at suite 507 you will find IT’SUGAR, a candy store built around one simple idea: you fill your own bag.
The address is 433 Opry Mills Dr, and if you are coming from downtown Nashville you are looking at roughly 15 to 20 minutes of driving depending on traffic. From Murfreesboro it runs closer to 45 minutes, and from Clarksville about an hour.
Google lists it plainly as a candy store, though the company describes itself as a retailer of candy and novelty goods, which undersells what the place actually feels like once you walk in.
Oversized candy, retro brands, apparel, accessories and gift items share floor space with the bulk bins. Mall parking is free and there is plenty of it, which matters when you are hauling kids across a lot in July heat.
The store holds a 4-star rating across 183 reviews, and shoppers most often bring up the variety of candy, the friendly staff and how clean the place stays.
How The Empty Bag System Actually Works
Grab a bag at the entrance. That is the entire onboarding process.
From there you move along the bins, pull the lever or use the scoop provided, and drop whatever catches your eye into the bag. One shopper described buying four bags of assorted candy this way, filling each one by hand and paying by weight at the counter.
Nothing is portioned for you, which is the appeal and also the trap. A bag that feels light in your hand can weigh more than you expect, especially once gummies start piling up, because gummy candy is dense.
Staff enforce a few rules at the bins, and visitors mention this consistently: no reaching in with hands, no putting candy back once it is out, and children are expected to be with an adult. One shopper watched an employee swap out an entire jawbreaker container after a child touched the contents.
Some visitors have also filled small paint cans with candy rather than bags, which makes a tidy gift.
Free samples get handed out near the door on some days, so you may get a taste before you commit.
Gummy Worms, Sour Everything And The Pineapple Recommendation
Gummy worms come up more than almost anything else in what shoppers say about this store, mentioned again and again alongside the general variety.
They sit near the front and are sold by weight, and staff have been known to steer gift shoppers toward them. One customer buying a present for a niece was asked a single question first: sweet or sour?
Sour is a whole category here. A mom shopping with her family singled out the pineapple gummies as the family favorite, the kind of specific tip that saves you five minutes of indecision at the bins.
Novelty candy shows up throughout the store too, oversized versions of familiar treats that look almost cartoonish next to the standard bins. Kids gravitate to those instantly.
Because gummies weigh more than air-filled candies, a bag of worms adds up faster on the scale than the same visual volume of, say, taffy or malt balls. Worth knowing if you are managing a budget.
A few shoppers have flagged stale or out-of-date items, so glance at dates on packaged goods before checkout.
Jelly Bellys And The Regulars Who Restock Here
Not everyone who walks through the door is here for spectacle. Some are here on a schedule.
One longtime shopper visits every couple of months purely to restock on Jelly Bellys, noting the store carries the flavors they want and sells them by the pound. That is the quiet strength of a bulk wall: you can buy only the flavors you actually like, which no supermarket bag lets you do.
Retro candies also get regular mentions, the brands you remember from a grandparent’s candy dish or a corner store that closed decades ago. For Tennessee retirees making the drive out to Opry Mills, that shelf tends to be the one worth lingering at.
Selection reportedly spans candy from around the world, which turns a routine restock into a low-stakes experiment. Buy your usual pound, add two ounces of something unfamiliar.
Shoppers describe the layout as clean and well kept, with staff paying attention to the open bins.
If you are shopping for a specific brand, going on a weekday morning right after the 10 AM opening usually means fewer people between you and the dispenser.
Novelty Gifts, T-Shirts And Mystery Boxes
Candy is only half the inventory.
Racks of apparel, accessories and novelty gifts fill out the store, and shoppers regularly mention buying gifts here rather than snacks. One visitor walked out with a SpongeBob t-shirt.
Others come specifically for the gift angle, since a filled bag of a friend’s favorite candy makes a birthday present that costs whatever you decide it costs.
Mystery boxes are part of the mix too, packaged assortments that lean into imported candy. A word of caution from shoppers: check dates on anything pre-packaged, because a few have reported receiving items past their best-by window.
The paint-can containers are a fun alternative to the plastic bag. Fill one, snap the lid on, and it becomes a gift that survives the car ride without a rubber band.
For families building a Nashville souvenir on a budget, a small filled container plus a novelty item usually lands under $30 total, though that depends entirely on what you scoop.
Prices and stock shift with the seasons, especially around Halloween and Christmas, so what you find in October will not match June.
Loud Music, Bright Bins And A Store Built For Kids
Upbeat music plays. The colors are turned up to maximum.
Nothing about the design is subtle, and that is the point.
Shoppers describe it as a fun store with a lively atmosphere, and several specifically call it fun for kids even when they grumble about the prices. A child holding an empty bag in front of a wall of candy is a child having a genuinely good time.
Staff come up often in what people say, usually described as friendly and helpful. One parent mentioned a cashier who was patient with their son as he worked through anxiety while paying on his own, letting him take his time at the counter.
Cleanliness is another repeated theme, which matters in a store built around open bins.
Not every experience has been smooth. A handful of shoppers have described unpleasant interactions at the register or over the bin rules, so it helps to explain the no-hands, no-put-backs policy to kids before you walk in.
Set expectations early and the visit tends to go well for everyone involved.
Hours, Parking And The Best Time To Go
Doors open at 10 AM Monday through Friday and close at 8 PM, with Friday keeping the same 8 PM close.
Saturday runs longer on the front end, opening at 9:30 AM and closing at 8 PM. Sunday is the short day, 10:30 AM to 7 PM.
Mall hours can shift around holidays, so confirm before you commit to the drive, especially if you are coming from Cookeville, Bowling Green or somewhere over an hour out.
Parking at Opry Mills is free and the lots are large, though the sections nearest the entrances fill fast on Saturday afternoons. Park toward the outer rows and walk.
Weekday mornings are the calmest window. Get there shortly after opening and you will have room to browse the bins without a line forming behind you at the dispensers.
Restrooms and food are all within the mall, so a candy stop folds easily into a longer indoor day, which makes it a reliable rainy-Saturday or cold-January option for Middle Tennessee families.
Strollers roll through the mall without trouble, though the store aisles get tight when it is busy.
Making It A Full Nashville Day Without Overspending
A candy stop alone is not a Saturday. Fortunately, this corner of Nashville stacks well.
Opry Mills sits within walking distance of the Grand Ole Opry House and the Gaylord Opryland grounds, and the mall itself holds enough browsing to fill a couple of hours without spending a dollar. Window shopping is free and so is the parking.
Build the day around one named number and it stops feeling risky. Twenty dollars of candy split among the family, a cheap lunch from the food court, and free parking puts a full outing somewhere near $50 for four people, less than a sit-down dinner for the same group.
If the weather turns, the whole plan stays indoors, which is the real advantage from November through March when Tennessee skies stop cooperating.
Coming from Knoxville, you are looking at roughly three hours west on I-40. From Chattanooga it is about two hours northwest.
Pair the trip with the Opryland Christmas lights in December and the candy bags become part of a much bigger memory.
The Verdict: Go In With A Number In Your Head
Would a Tennessee family regret this stop? That depends almost entirely on preparation.
The store earns its 4-star average honestly. People love the range, the retro finds, the sour selection and a staff that shoppers repeatedly describe as friendly.
They also, with equal consistency, mention the cost of filling a bag without watching the weight.
Both groups are describing the same place. The difference is whether anyone checked the per-pound sign before scooping.
So set the budget in the parking lot. Tell the kids they each get a small bag, not a large one.
Glance at dates on packaged items. Know that once candy leaves the bin, it is yours.
Handled that way, it is one of the easier wins in Nashville: free parking, free samples on some days, an indoor stop that works in any weather, and a kid walking out clutching a bag they chose themselves, ounce by ounce.
Hours and pricing can change, so a quick check before you leave home is time well spent. Then let them scoop.