Church St. snack store offers smorgasbord of international flavors

BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) - Burlington’s Church Street has plenty of international cuisine and plenty of places to grab a sweet treat, but one downtown shop is putting international snacks and sweets all under one roof.

There’s no sugarcoating it, the selection of snacks at Underground Snax is pretty sweet.

“A lot of the Asian snacks are super popular. We’ve got spicy lobster chips from Thailand, the Japanese Kit Kats,” said shop owner David Driscoll.

Whether you’re looking for savory or sweet, Underground Snax has you covered on a global scale -- Australian, Canadian, German and snacks from far beyond line the shelves of this College Street spot.

“The fun thing is that we’re getting stuff from different parts of the world. Every time you come in, there are different snacks,” said Driscoll, who is no stranger to international goodies. “Some friends and I started Underground Snax. We used to travel the world together and we’d always get snacks and candies and bring them back, share them with our friends and relatives, have them out on the coffee table.”

Driscoll says this is just like those coffee table snacks but on a much larger scale. And this isn’t the first Underground Snax store -- there are two shops in Canada already. “Couple of my partners live up in Halifax and Nova Scotia. I wanted to have one in my hometown here in Burlington,” he said.

While there’s no shortage of sweet treats up for grabs on Church Street, a candy store with snacks is something Driscoll felt was missing from the lineup. The doors for the Burlington store opened in December and store staff say they’ve been warmly welcomed by customers young and old. “They’re like a kid in a candy store. They see all the candy and they get super excited,” said Ella Driscoll, David’s daughter.

The bright storefront attracts people from all over, like Mary Medina who was visiting from Canada with her daughter. “We think we love it. This is a Hello Kitty Marshmallows,” Medina said.

But it’s allure suckers in locals, too. “I work next door. It’s a love-hate relationship because I’m here every day. I like to think of myself as the token sampler, now,” said Jack Mitrani.

And there’s plenty to try -- from salted egg chips to gummy sushi -- and everything in between

Underground Snax leaves customers with lots to chew on.

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