M&M World
Leicester Square, London
CAKE BOT:
As a young robot, my parts and I grew up harbouring a small obsession with the smiling faced m&m guys. Their happy faces gracing the front of the packs, saying “It’s okay, my little rustbucket buddy, we want you to eat our friends. They’re tasty…and so are we” in the slow, soothing voice of the yellow, peanut-bellied one. How I came to love him so, amassing a sizeable collection of small plastic figurines of him within my abdominal cupboard. Alas, many years have passed, and those figurines are now but history. My love for the yellow fella and his moreish friends, however, hath not waned one bit.
Which is why a trip to m&m world featured at the top of my ‘to-do’ list on myself and Beer Bot’s recent robotic outing to London. Oh dear…I was not prepared for what lay in store. Nor was Beer Bot prepared for my curse-word laden exclamations of joy and fear-inducing chasing of a human dressed up as a giant, furry M. The human seemed used to such displays of affection. But from children. Not robots well into their fourth decade of existence.
I’ve never seen so many chocolates in one place in all my service span. Every colour of the rainbow, and then some. Not to mention the special colour combination mixes…
With the opportunity to bag your own candies, and choose from a ridulous array of novelty dispensers and containers, I really was spoiled for choice.
I’ve not even mentioned the Christmas decorations, chess sets, kitchenware, ornaments, magnets, stationery, jewellery and clothing…how I am jealous of you humans and your ability to wear smiley-faced pants and boxers.
That’s right, FOUR levels of fun. I went wild. My circuitboard went into overdrive as I wheeled from floor to floor bagging an alarming array of merchandise and – of course – armfuls of multicoloured sugar coated gems of chocolate joy. The limited edition dark chocolate peanut variety were a particular delight. Sadly, not available elsewhere in the UK I’m told, which is a shame given their prevalence stateside.
Not only a shopping experience, m&m world takes the experience further by adding a hefty dose of fun. Everywhere you turn there are giant smiling characters to be photographed with, a character portrait gallery, an interactive ‘colour finder’ and an m&m ‘mix lab’ where your very own special combination can be created.
All this was just too much to bear. I had to go back three times. Well, when faced with this many cute little plush characters, it was so hard to choose. And of course there was always the worry that I hadn’t bought enough chocolate. Or m&m character cookie cutters. Or enough chocolate. With only three large bags left a few weeks on, I’m still not convinced I bought enough. The only things missing from the overflowing wonderland of m&m world are those elusive stateside brands I pay so much for in import stores – such as mint, coconut, peanut butter, pretzel, the afoermetioned gorgeous dark chocolate numbers etc. I really do long for the day when ALL of the varieties will be available widely in the UK. There’s a market for them, even if if just consists of me.

You! Second shelf up, second in from the left, beside the red guy! Yes, you! I’ll take you! Wait…the little one is your son?? Oh God. OH GOD!
A trip to m&m world is more than worth it. Okay so it’s a chocolate shop, a toy shop, and a merchandising excuse…but it’s so much more than that. These guys are not the institution here that they are stateside yet, though if this is the level of fun they inject into all their shopping experiences? I hope they take over the UK as soon as possible. They certainly injected a whole heap of joy into the heart of this happy Cake Bot. Next stop, m&m world Vegas!
To orange flavour, limited edition raspberry flavour, AND BEYOND!