At Mast General Store, you can buy outdoor gear, cast iron skillets, local swag, cheeky pajamas, and candy. Lots and lots of candy. Chocolate bars, caramels, and cookie dough bites. Gummy bears, chocolate-covered pretzels, and cordials. Find all these sweet treats and more in the dozens of barrels that fill the store. When I was 10 years old, Mast General Store was the closest thing I knew to heaven on earth.
This store, which has locations across the southeast, opened its first trading post not too far from where I live in North Carolina. It was founded in the 1850s (albeit under a different name) in the Appalachian community of Valle Crucis, near modern-day Boone. As of late 2025, the chain store still specializes in antique-style goods and candies. Walking on its creaky wooden floors, you’ll feel an unmistakable sense of homeliness fill your heart as you shop for candy, most of which is sold by the pound.
But what to buy? I visited my local Mast General Store in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and picked up a wide variety of candies for a taste and tell. While I was supremely pleased with much of the selection, there are certainly varieties I recommend against buying. I ranked products according to flavor and texture, and you can find a few more notes on methodology at the end of this article.
Buy: Barrel-aged bourbon cordials
Each Christmas, my family always gave a box of Queen Anne cordial cherries to my grandfather with the warning that he shouldn’t eat them all in one sitting. Queen Anne might be a top-tier brand, but my grandfather would have surely polished off a bag of these barrel-aged bourbon cordials, too…