Mr Simms Olde Sweet Shoppe reopens in Norfolk Street, King's Lynn
A popular sweet shop in Lynn town centre has been bought and reopened by a former employee who used to work there part time as a teenager.
Vicky Chiles, from Lynn, was just 14 when she worked in Mr Simms Olde Sweet Shoppe in Norfolk Street when it first opened in 2011. Now nine years on, she has taken over the business herself after discovering it had closed.
She said: "I had just come home from the University of London this year and saw that the shop had closed. It was sad to see and I wanted to do something about it, so I applied to take it over and bought it.
"I used to work there as a teenager during weekends, packing up sweets. I did that for a few years, so the shop was special to me. It's a unique shop and it brings something to the town, so I wanted to see it reopen."
The doors were open for business at the end of September much to the delight of many customers. "I had some who came from Peterborough who told me they had come to Lynn specifically to visit the shop," said Vicky. "The feedback from customers has been positive, with many saying how pleased they are to see it back open and how much they had missed it.
"It appeals because it is a traditional sweet shop, with items straight from the jars weighed out according to customers' requests. I think it appeals to adults because it brings back memories of when they were children and the kids love it because there's so many sweets all in one place!
"It is also an eye-catching shop, with shelves packed with colourful packets and jars inside and on the outside it's attractive too."
She has introduced a loyalty card where for every 100 grams bought from a jar, customers will get one stamp. Having collected ten stamps, the customer will receive 100 grams free from the jars or pick 'n' mix selection.
The shop has a large range of American products including drinks as well as sweets. One of the best sellers is Black Death Pips, acid-coated lemon flavoured sweets, and Toxic Waste sweets, which also have sour flavours.
