Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Places/Honeyduke's Sweetshop

General Overview
Honeyduke's Sweet Shop is a candy and treat store in the Village of Hogsmeade. It is very popular among Hogwarts students, on those occasions when they are allowed into the village ("Hogsmeade weekends").

Extended Description
Honeyduke's is also the terminus of one of the secret passages out of the school, used extensively by Harry in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, and also presumably by Sirius Black to enter the school in that same book. Once Harry has received permission to visit Hogsmeade on the weekends, which he does at the end of the book, he has little further need for that passage. The only other mention of that passage is the note in passing that "all known secret passages into the school" have been sealed, mentioned in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Because of this, it seems that we see Honeyduke's to any great extent only in the third book. There is passing mention of the store, which Harry apparently visits many other times he is in Hogsmeade, but it seems much of his interest in the village is centered on The Three Broomsticks. In the sixth book, we do visit Honeyduke's during the only Hogsmeade visit that year: Harry, Ron, and Hermione run into Professor Slughorn, who is there buying some of his favorite crystallized pineapple.

In the third book, it is noted that there is a section of the store devoted to "unusual tastes", including blood-based treats clearly intended for vampires, and Cockroach Clusters. One must wonder exactly which sub-group of wizards would be interested in the last, however, as we are not introduced to any insectivore wizards in the series. That specific treat, though, does reappear; for some unknown reason, Professor Dumbledore, who uses the names of sweets as the password for his office door, at one point is found to have Cockroach Cluster as his office password.

Analysis
What could possibly be more likely than having a confectionery within walking distance of a boarding school? It is almost necessary to have a candy store near Hogwarts. Strictly speaking, though, it is not necessary to the story, and as such could have been left out without any immediate harm to the main story, as in fact it is not mentioned in the first two books, and barely even touched upon after the third. It is, however, a testament to the forethought of the author that, needing a place for a tunnel from Hogwarts to surface, she recognized the necessity of a sweet shop in the village and placed the tunnel terminus there. In fact, having the tunnel lead to Honeyduke's is quite possibly the reason it was initially created; one can see a perceived need on the part of students to get to a sweet shop, and it would be possible for a student, of magical ability on a par with the Marauders or the Twins, to create such a passageway in their hour of perceived need.