See's Candies

Despite the fact that it originally hails from LA, See’s has become fixed in our collective consciousness as the special-occasion boxed-chocolate choice. Mary See and her son Charles opened their first shop in 1921, and by 1936 had grown successful enough to expand to San Francisco. Today, See’s has more than 200 shops around the country. These are the nostalgic comfort chocolates you remember from childhood—nougats, buttercreams, chews, Bordeaux, brittles and caramels set in little brown corrugated wrappers. Undoubtedly, part of the allure of See’s is stepping inside one of the tidy, little checkerboard shops, where you can point out your selections to workers in black-and-white uniform dresses reminiscent of I Love Lucy. And no matter how small your order, you always get a free sample.