Suffolk alumni, Greg Balestrieri and Joe Melville have launched Candy.com -- the world's largest corner candy store just one month after the $3 million purchase of the candy.com web domain.

The new online site will be the go-to destination for everything candy - selling more than 6,000 different candy items from 500-plus manufacturers, offering product reviews, blogs, customer giveaways and a special section for children.

Candy.com was co-founded by cousins Greg Balestrieri, BSBA '09 and Joe Melville, BSBA '09 who represent the third generation of the family-owned Melville Candy Company based in Weymouth, Massachusetts. "This is a new business with the same passion and some of the same family," Balestrieri said.

Candy.com was conceived two years ago when the cousins saw the growth of Melville Candy's online store grow by 371 percent. They knew then that it was time to take a greater stake in the nearly $30 billion retail candy industry and purchase the domain name Candy.com.

The $3 million purchase price of the prime online real estate was the second-highest domain sale of the year behind the $5.1 million paid for toys dot com by Toys "R" Us Inc. Balestrieri says, "We're willing to make this large investment to reach the largest number of consumers and we're going to look back and say that $3 million was a bargain for candy.com."

According to Melville, Candy.com gets more than 1,000 hits a day without any marketing or content on the site. The cousins, both graduates of Suffolk University's Entrepreneurship Program, estimate numbers will climb to 2,500 unique hits in the early months, and to over 10,000 within 6 months. "We're confident we've made a wise business investment with candy.com."

Candy.com's incredible variety of candy selections will come from all over the United States and the world. Candy products from smaller manufacturers, memorable retro-candy adults enjoyed in their childhood, gluten-free candy, kosher candy and even healthy candy will all be found at candy.com.

According to CEO Greg Balestrieri. "We're going to revolutionize the candy industry by creating a fun and exciting candy community for children of all ages. The corner candy store is back!"