The internet because it can reach a bigger audience has been a godsend to a niche market seller and none more so than retailers of retro sweets.
If you went back to the fifties and sixties in the UK every high street would be able to support a sweets shop selling a range of sweets. These were slowly replaced by corner shops who sold all manner of items from newspapers, tobacco, spirits and essential food items such as bread and milk to attract sufficient custom because high street traffic was and still is in a downward spiral.
The reason for this was the growth of supermarkets and out of town shopping malls. Many independent retailers such as grocers, bakers' tailors and hardware stores have disappeared through a lack of custom off UK high streets.
Supermarkets and shopping malls have the advantage of selling many products under one roof with free parking on the door step. Some independents have successfully transferred to shopping malls but they do tend to be dominated by national companies who can apply economies of scale to their business.
Some independent sweet shops have managed to stay in business and tend to be located in fashionable tourist type cities of York, Harrogate, Chester, Ely, Oxford and Cambridge and in the larger UK cities where there is high footfall. Rent and rates at these locations is high and a sweet is a low margin item, so huge volumes need to be sold which also means a higher ratio of staff.
As a result, the number of locations capable of supporting a shop only selling sweets has dwindled enormously, meaning that customers have got out of the habit of buying their favourite sweets and would only visit these shops if they were visiting these locations for other reasons.
Thanks to the world wide web this has all changed and the customer can visit their own retro sweets shop from the comfort of their own home and look for the sweets of yester year.
These include such classics as aniseed balls and twists, caramel merry maids, fruit salads and black jacks, taverners bob bons, liquorice all sorts, midget gems, Kendal mint cake, orange creams, Turkish delight, walnut whips, the list just goes on and on.
The beauty of these products is postage fees are relatively low with £5.50 for deliveries in the UK being the maximum amount you will pay, with orders over £50 usually free. Given the ridiculously high cost of petrol or diesel in the UK postage will work out far cheaper.
Indeed many people will often buy in bulk with family and friends which will more than cover the cost of the postage. Buying in full jars instead of 200g packages dramatically cuts the cost by as much as 30 per cent. For example Retro Sweets shop sells aniseed balls in 200g packs for £1.70 and in 3kg jars for £19.50 making a saving of £6 or 30 per cent if you buy the jar.
American Sweets have always been popular in the UK starting way back when candy first became a hit. The current top of the pops is nerds and Wonka sweets which kids in the UK cannot simply get enough of and it is through the wonder of the internet and social networking that these products become almost an instant hit in the UK as they do in America.
Lynne has operated a Retro Sweets shop in the small town of Retford for many years and latterly a second unit at the Meadow Hall shopping mall in Sheffield.
In response to customers who are only able to visit the shops every once in a while and to offer our range of Retro Sweets to a wider UK audience Retro Sweets Shop web site has been built providing over 500 different sweets.
We therefore welcome new and old customers to visit our http://www.retro-sweets-shop.co.uk/ and browse at your leisure your favourite sweets that will bring back fond memories of your childhood.
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