The story behind Sweet Pointe Candy
🍬 OUR STORY
Some stores sell candy. Sweet Pointe Candy was born from a lifelong love of it — and a family legacy that's nearly a century in the making.
Where it all began - Detroit, Circa 1932
Long before Grosse Pointe Park had its sweetest shop, David King's great-grandfather Charles Malcolm Lee was already making people smile, one piece of candy at a time.
Around 1932, Charles opened Lee's Grocery at Six Mile and Lindsay in Detroit — a place he owned outright, not rented. And it was far more than a candy shop. The hand-painted sign out front said it all: Grocery, Pies and Cakes, Ice Cream. Vernors Ginger Ale and Coca-Cola signs flanked the entrance. Inside, the glass candy counters were stocked with Chase Mints, Chase Wintergreen, Butterfingers, Baby Ruth, Hershey's, Bit-O-Honey, Kool-Aid, and more treats than a kid could dream of. This was a real neighborhood store — the kind that took care of people.
There's a photograph of Charles from those years. He's standing out front in his white work clothes, one hand resting on the store sign, looking straight into the camera with the quiet confidence of a man who built something worth being proud of. In the background, a neighborhood kid leans against a bicycle — probably one of the many children whose baseball teams Charles sponsored right out of that store. He didn't just sell to the community. He invested in it.
The Woman Behind the Counter (Who Wasn't Asked)
There's one story that's been passed down through the family with equal parts laughter and admiration. When Charles decided to open the store, he didn't exactly consult his wife, Margaret — Margaret (Campion) Lee, a woman of proud Irish heritage and the strongest Irish brogue you've ever heard.
Margaret did not speak to Charles for three days.
Then, on the fourth day, she gathered her cleaning supplies, walked straight into that store, and cleaned it from top to bottom. Every shelf. Every corner. Every surface. When she was done, she made one thing perfectly clear: it had to be spotless, and nothing less would do.
In her own way, Margaret had given her blessing — and set the standard. The Lee store would be clean, proud, and done right. Charles had the vision. Margaret made sure it was worthy of it.
The Girls Behind the Counter
Charles and Margaret's family was woven into the fabric of that store. Among its most beloved fixtures were two girls born in 1923 — at home, on the kitchen table, as was the way of the time. Dorothy had been expected. Her twin sister Doris had not.
Dorothy, blonde and bright, and Doris, dark-haired and spirited, grew up loving that store. As young teenagers — around 12 or 13 years old — both sisters worked behind the counter at Lee's Grocery, charming customers and learning that a great store is really about so much more than what's on the shelves.
There's a photograph of them from those years that tells the whole story in a single frame. Two girls standing side by side behind the candy counter — Kool-Aid displays and Chase Mints stacked behind them, glass cases full of Butterfingers and Baby Ruth at their elbows, shelves of Lux soap and Super Suds climbing the wall in the background. Dorothy on the left, Doris on the right, both looking completely at home. Because they were.
The War Changes Everything
World War II cast a long shadow across the country from 1939 to 1945, and Lee's Grocery was not immune to its reach. As the war wore on, supplies became harder and harder to come by. The shelves that Charles had worked so hard to fill — that Margaret had insisted be kept spotless — could no longer be restocked the way they once were.
By 1947, with supplies too scarce to sustain the business, Charles made the heartbreaking decision to close the doors. But the spirit of that store — the joy, the community, the pies and the candy and the ice cream, and the standard Margaret had set — never went away. It lived on in the family.
The dream is reborn
David King grew up hearing those stories. He grew up with candy as more than just a treat — it was a connection to his great-grandfather Charles, to Margaret and her legendary standards, to Grandma Doris, to Dorothy, and to a legacy of bringing happiness to people. Candy wasn't just sweet to David. It was personal.
For years, David dreamed of honoring that legacy by doing something bold: creating not just a candy store, but a destination. A place people would drive across Michigan to visit. A place that would make Malcolm proud.
On April 25, 2026, that dream officially opens its doors at 15129 Kercheval Ave in Grosse Pointe Park — and the King family's love of candy comes full circle.
More than a candy store
Sweet Pointe Candy was designed to be an experience from the moment you walk in. With nearly 1,000 different items, 135 bulk candy bins, freshly made cotton candy, premium chocolates, ICEE slushees, Coffee Beanery beverages, custom candy charcuterie boxes, and so much more — there is literally something here for everyone.
We're proud to serve the 50,000-strong community of Grosse Pointe Park, and we're even prouder to welcome candy lovers from every corner of Michigan through our doors. Our goal is simple: to be one of the top 5 candy destinations in the state — a place you come back to again and again, and can't wait to tell your friends about.
