Stock delivery day

We are often asked where we get all our stock from. No simple answer! When we set up the traditional sweet shops we set ourselves the task of sourcing sweets as close to the taste that we all remembered. There are many manufactures producing sweets, but many are cheap copies. So we tried hard to find the old fashioned companies and in most cases we did. It did mean a lot of sampling sweets - hence my exercise class at the local college each week.
Traditional sweets hold many nostalgic memories so we need people to be able to pop one in their mouth and instantly be transported back in time.
Thursday is our big stocking up day, so the shop is full of bags of sweets waiting to be logged in and put into jars. Its also the day when I eat too many sweets!
Today is no exception, there are bags of  Liquorice, toffees, fizzy and jelly sweets as well as the old favourites Sherbet Lemons, Chocolate limes and of course white mice.
Sweets can easily be tainted or lose their quality so we never keep a large stock in, preferring to have fresh in each week, which can be a juggling act, knowing what people will buy in the week to come.

Big Changes on the way

Lots of new exciting things happening at the shops over the next few weeks, we will be updating the blog on a regular basis so you can keep up to date.
The biggest change is the alteration of the layout at Harrogate so we can sell Ice Cream. The freezer is due in before Easter so we will have ice cream cones and also Sweetie Ice Cream Tubs...yummy, plus there will be a variety of topping to choose from such as Choc Lick, Sherbet, Kali or even dip your cone into the millions!

Happy Easter

By now you will have all been tucking into your Chocolate Easter eggs. There are many myths and stories about the Chocolate Easter egg depending on which book or website you read as well as your spiritual beliefs.
It has been great to see so many people out and about this week and the weather has started to pick up making us all feel that spring and more so summer is on the way.

All ready for Easter

While we don't sell Easter eggs, we certainly have been busy in all three shops preparing gift bags and hampers as that special Easter gift. Our new sweetie assistant in Helmsley, Katie has had a busy first few days and met many of our regular customers making their first visit of the year to Helmsley.
Harrogate has sold lots of chocolate letters and numbers as well as the lactose free Easter eggs. At Ripon we are wowing new customers who are arriving for the Easter break and seeing the shop for the first time.

Today there was an interesting tweet from Ampleforth Abbey (5 mins from the Helmsley Shop). It asked why today is known as "Spy Wednesday". I had no idea and had to go onto their link to find out why.

Ampleforth Cider

Took time out yesterday to visit a local abbey and taste the cider they produce. Ampleforth Abbey. It was very interesting and excellent value for money. A potted history of the Abbey and School was followed by a tour round the cider production area, where the process was explained in great detail. The sun popped out as we wandered in the orchard, learning about the great apple varieties there are - not just the 6 or so the supermarkets sell, but a who array of old and new varieties.
Then a short presentation followed by a very nice lunch (including apple cake) and sampling of the cider, beer and the apple brandy....very nice indeed. It really is worth booking on to one of these days as the knowledge and enthusiasm by Cameron is infectious. We went away wanting to plant Apple trees..

Mothers Day

Happy Mothers day to all the mums. Sometimes its not easy juggling work, children and the  daily demands of life where ever we live so its nice to have a day to say thank you. I had two lovely children in yesterday with their grandma. The y had emptied their piggy bank into a bag and wantec to buy something for their mum. We counted all the change and there was £2. They both knew which sweets their mum liked so we created a bag with ribbons on for her. It touched me and re enforcement the old saying that its the thought that counts, not the amount of money spent.

Red nose day

We've all got our red noses and jumpers on today. Have watched the Strictly peoples special and the clinic build in uganda with lenny henry and been blown away by how people cope with adversity. All the shops are collecting odd bits of change from customers to pay over to Comic Relief for all the great work they do.