Entertainment For Lively Minds
Where are all the sweet shops coming from?
Walking home from work this evening I passed an empty shop which is now being fitted out and will shortly become the third dedicated sweet shop to open in my town this year. Are sweets the recession proof retail product? Or were Woolworths really selling that much pic'n'mix that they left a vacuum in the processed sugar market when they went under?
I’m not complaining; I still have a very sweet tooth and the new shop will be a branch of Mr Simms, whose shelves, jars and boxes of sherbets, cola-cubes, kop kops, bon bons and more send me straight back to childhood (the good bit). I’m just curious about the economics. Either a gap in the market has been left unfilled for too long or there will be three dedicated shops (plus all the other newsagents, general stores and grocers) battling for a share of a limited market.
If you’re buying, mine’s a 100gms of Edinburgh rock ta.
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There'll be a few
gaps in your teeth waiting to be filled at this rate. Brush three times a day Sir!
I have the fillings that show my mis-spent youth
These days it's daily flossing and an electric toothbrush. One thing that's worth paying for is good dentistry, and the cost is a powerful incentive to be scrupulous about dental hygiene!
A postscript
I had a check up at the dentist's on Thursday, and as the old toothpaste ad used to say, 'No fillings today mum!' Even teeth as abused as mine can be kept from getting any worse with good brushing.
Milk shakes
The one I don't get is the rise of milk-shake bar, the kind of place that sells incredibly rich shakes that include ingredients like entire chocolate bars and cakes. There are two within 20 minutes of where I live that weren't there 18 months ago, and another two where an existing business has added milk-shake facilities: an art store and a place where you can get your eyebrows threaded (whatever that means) and your mobile phone unlocked.
Why?
Re: pic 'n mix: my local Tesco Metro has just added a section that offers this. And they seem to know what they're doing.
Actually, I had my eyebrows threaded today!
Hard to explain what threading is without sounding absolutely crackers. A nice lady twists a long piece of cotton and uses that to pluck out your eyebrow hairs, and shape your brows.
The important bit is: my eyebrows now look REALLY great. Yeah. Never mind the rest of me is somewhat dishevelled, I've now got gorgeous eyebrows.
they have a lady doing that
down the town and I always wondered who gets it done. And now I know.
Its women isn't it?
The ones with the bumps and pretty smiles.
OK, gotcha
Whilst killing time in Euston Station the other week before a gig I noticed they had a huge pic n mix type shop. Lethal in the wrong hands. Should they really let people take 100kg of peanut brittle on an Inter City 125 (shows the last time i went on a train)?
Lots of sweet-shops..
Good. I might be able to bring forward my retirement..
Saying that, the vast bulk of modern confectionery is sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup which has less potential to cause decay than traditional sucrose. But it is very good at making you fat.
Why would you want to pull out eyebrows with a bit of cotton when there's things caled tweezers available?
Wonder if you can thread nasal hairs..
It's quicker and more accurate
apparently.
Nasal hairs? Crikey. I wouldn't like to find out. But in the interests of science, you should have a go and report back. With pictures. OK, maybe not with pictures.
A Reflection Of Modern Society?
I was discussing this very issue with some friends recently.
We came to the conclusion that the success of these retro sweet shops is down to the increasingly fragmented/frazzled family set up and the attitudes and inspirations of two types of 'guardian' within it.
Firstly, grandparents acting as (unpaid) child carers while their own offspring work longer hours to pay for a lifestyle that they, and arguably Western society in general, can probably not afford.
In this case the sweets are treats that the adults remember and (perhaps more importantly) can relate to.
Secondly, single fathers looking for a cost effective treat to extend the one day their children see them.
Who'd have thought that a quarter of humbugs could be so depressing?
Small treats
Yeah they are recession proof... a night out at the pictures... a night in with a pizza... a manicure etc. etc. all small treats that beat the recesssion (esp. the pictures and pizza).
the CyberCandy store
If you have a sweet tooth and ever pass a UK branch of sweetie specialist CyberCandy, I heartily recommend popping inside. They specialize in an impressive array of candy and cans of soda pop from around the world, including frankly bizzare Cadburys Chocolate bars only available in places like Australia and Canada. It's all a bit like being in an episode of the Twlight Zone where you're an astronaut who's recently returned to Earth, but you start noticing weird little differences and changes have gone on from before you left that just don't seem right- in this case bars of chocolate like the Cadburys Black Forest Gateaux flavour bar
I love Cybercandy!
Or pop online: http://www.cybercandy.co.uk/
Staffed by lovely people too.
CyberCandy is indeed a delight
Not exactly the cheapest place to stock up on candy and soda pop, but the unique nostalgia/sugar rush combo they provide is priceless. Where the hell else in the UK can you still buy cans of the 1st ever diet Cola?
(Ok it doesn't taste as nice as Cola Zero, but that's not the point!)
it was with some satisfaction
that I read of the demise of the Australian franchise (or most of em anyway) of Kripy Kreme donuts
Talk about a porker's paradise. The devil's work most surely.
On matters dental, the teeth of young Australians, after its nadir in the 60s, have had fewer and fewer fillings with each year due to the introduction of fluoridation into the water.
This trend has recently slowed dramatically as people feel impelled to pay a fair sum of money and create environmental havoc by insisting on only drinking water encased in plastic.