Saturday 23 June 2012

Farewell to the local sweets shop?

This picture is taken from that photos file my dad sent me, and which I mentioned on this blog recently. This is a picture of cream fudge, I think it is the recipe which has Caramilk bars in the middle. I love cream fudge, this one is among my favourite because it is so indulgent. I have here a sweets shop that supplies me in cream fudge when I feel like eating some. The sweets shop also has lots of other things, liquorice and cream soda and, well, pretty much everything one can dream of in terms of candies, chocolate bars and pretty much everything that you used to indulge yourself with as a child.

But sadly, and this is the topic of this post, it will be closing in September. The loca sweets shop. The community sweets shop. For the dumbest reason: the rent is too high. Which is the reason why most businesses close here. And many have recently. I say it is a dumb reason, because the shop is very successful: they always have customers in, many families with kids eagers to try everything and parents unable to refuse them at least one treat, often themselves wanting to rediscover classics from their old chilchood: toffees, Hershey's bars, marshmallows,  Nerds, etc. This is why I find the possible closing of the sweets shop downright tragic: it was not only selling pieces of happiness, it was also soothing nostalgia and preserving memories. Seriously. This is really sad news.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

It is really sad. Over the years I have seen many small businesses close down due to chainstores that open nearby or because of rising rent. The personal touch is lost and each time this happens I feel we lose a little bit of the soul of a place, the very nostalgia that you write about.

Yves said...

C'est triste.
Mais quoi?!? Tu fais aucune référence explicite à notre délicieux, exquis, identitaire, jouissif, patrimonial et engraissant "sucàcrême!??!!
(sauf dans les mots clés...curieux..);-)
L'exil te pèse mon cher...;-)

Yves (c'est de l'humour, échappe le pas...);-)

Guillaume said...

@Anonymous-It is in fact tragic. They had made great efforts to make their shop integral to the community: they were giving free sweets in the street, they were of every local fayres, they had hired young people, etc. And it is a shop that actually has character, it is not a chain or seling products that you can find everywhere easily.
@Yves-Mais j'ai déjà parlé du sucre à la crème dans d'autres billets. Ils datent peut-être un peu, mais je me dois de ne pas trop me répéter. Quoique parfois, je pense avoir mentionné quelque chose et c'est demeuré dans mon subconscient.

Yves said...

J'avais bien évidemment vérifié la chose avant, Guillaume!;-)
Pourquoi ne "dois-tu pas trop te répéter"?
Est-ce si grave?;-)
Fahren Sie fort, bitte!;-)

Yves (étrivage 101);-)

Xi Manco said...

It really seemed goodbye to local sweet shop. I think that being able to make your own sweets would let you say goodbye from them. I know that it would be a great experience to make them on your own.