Grandpa's Sweet shop in Wall Heath is our destination today for a look on business's . We find out sours are the sweets of the day for youngsters.
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00:00So we're here in Woolheath at Grandpa's Sweet Shop, amazing little sweet shop, full of nostalgia,
00:06full of charm and you're at the helm, what's your name? My name's Anna. And Anna, how long
00:11you had the shop here? We opened in 2015, so it's nine years next month. Wow, okay. And your previous
00:18life was working behind a bar, so a counter of sorts, but a different one in a Marstons pub,
00:23is that right? That's right. Bit different now though? Bit different, bit different customers
00:28now. Better hours I should expect. Nicer hours, probably longer than people expect, but I wouldn't
00:32change it, I love it to bits. And you've had some kids come in this morning, they all excited,
00:38they rocked up on their bikes, you said they've been regulars haven't you? Yeah, it's the school
00:41holidays and they've been out pretty much every day, the weather's been good, lovely to see them,
00:46they come every morning. And I saw them getting some little cards stamped, what's that all about?
00:50We do a loyalty card, so they come in with their little card, they get it stamped if they spend a
00:54pound, if they spend over five they get a couple of stamps and then when they've filled it they'll
00:58get a pound off. That's cool, that's good. So you get to know all the local youngsters then working
01:04here don't you? Yeah. Mrs Wonka. Yeah, no it's lovely, so they all come in, they all know our
01:11names, we try and know most of their names, but you see around the village and they'll shout and
01:15wave. Yeah, that's cool. And where does the name come from? Grandpa's Sweet Shop, you're not a
01:21grandpa, so what's going on? I'm not a grandpa. My grandpa loves sweets and unfortunately we lost him about
01:2612 years ago. Yeah. But he did have a twin brother and when we were opening the shop in credit to him
01:32he rang me when we were debating the name, he said, oh what about Grandpa's Sweet Shop? And he just
01:36laid the seed, just like yeah. It does work doesn't it? It really works. Yeah, yeah. And so what would,
01:43you know, from pub to sweet shop, what's the story there then? How did that kind of turn about?
01:48I went to uni, I did a business degree because I wanted my own business, just did not know what I
01:52wanted to do. I've always loved chatting to people, having a bit of interaction, hence the pub trail
01:58I suppose. And the shop came up for a fillet, we were driving past and in fairness to Mum, she just
02:03turned around and went, that's got a lovely window for a sweet shop. And there you go, that put the idea in my head and
02:09within a month, lots of friends, family, neighbours. Yeah. All brought together and a month later Grandpa's
02:15Sweet Shop opened. No way, so it's your Mum's fault, she planted the seed. That's it, that's it, it's Mum's fault.
02:20She's here twice a week, so. Is she helping out? Yeah, she's coming on the weekend and she's here on a Tuesday so.
02:26Yeah. Makes up for it. That's cool. So what's, if people were going to say, well what kind
02:32of sweets can I get then? It's a bit of everything isn't it really? Yeah, you can come in, you can get
02:36your traditional sweets, your boiled sweets, you can get your retro ones, we've got your fire sauces.
02:41Yeah. Foam banana shrimps and we've got a huge pick and mix choice, changes like weekly but we do
02:48pouches. Fudge, we've got pretty much, if you ask us to get it and we haven't got it, if we can we will.
02:54And someone came in for a little bit of chocolate for a present, so you were saying,
02:59oh do you want to add a little birthday stickers and things you can add and adapt things and that.
03:03Yeah, we try and make it just so you can get a bit of an individual gift. Yeah, yeah and your card, you've got your
03:08gift wrap your cards, you've got some lovely cards in here as well. Was that always here from the start though?
03:12No, it's been added, it was added probably within the first 12 months. Yeah. We're getting a lot of people
03:17coming in for gifts and giving feedback and saying we'd love to be able to get nice cards in the
03:22village. So gradually the range has got bigger and bigger. Yeah. And we do it at Christmas, we get the
03:27Christmas cards in, Easter cards. What was this shop before then? It's been a few things, I think
03:33before this one, it was a wedding dress shop. Okay, yeah. It's also been, the people that own it now,
03:40they've had it in their family, I think for quite a few generations. It's a very old dairy.
03:44Yeah. It's been a bakery since then. Oh, I saw a few different things. Yeah, it's had quite a lot of
03:49different things. Yeah, well if you, you know, if you're in your ninth year, you obviously tapped
03:53into something that the community wanted. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. So in terms of the sweets of the
03:59moment, what are kids coming in for these days and asking? Anything sour. Is it? They literally come
04:04in for the sourest thing you can find. Okay, interesting. Yeah. And what about for yourself?
04:09And if you're going to take home a little bag of something for the weekend, what's, um, what goes
04:12in your little... It's normally pick and mix. I'm a jelly sweet fan. A jelly sweet fan. Yeah, I'm with you there.
04:19I don't think they go wrong and there's so many of those to choose from. Yeah, yeah. Well, thank you for inviting us down to
04:24Grandpa's Sweet Shop. So Dan, how are you chap? I'm all right, mate. So, um, what's your favourite
04:31tipple then? We've just been speaking to Anna. Go on. Mine's toffees, I'm a toffee man. This is the clue,
04:36the mint toffee. Mint toffees, that's my favourite. I'm not sure for that, a mint toffee actually. I might have to steal one of them.
04:43Cool, go on then, lead us in buddy, lead us in. Come on then.
04:49It must be nice to see the, um, the kids coming in and kind of,
04:53it's like old school, isn't it? Like we always, we all long for, don't we, you know, a bit of,
04:57bit of charm, but a bit of interaction with people. Doctor's all... It's a taste of nostalgia as well, isn't it?
05:01It is, yeah. That's what I always say, um, because obviously we all remember when we were kids coming
05:05into the sweet shop and having a 20 pence mix. Yeah. You don't get much for 20 pence these days.
05:13And you've got your ice creams as well, haven't you? We didn't mention that with Anna. I didn't,
05:17that's, uh... New ice creams and milkshakes. Yeah, yeah. So I guess that's weather dependent, isn't it?
05:21How well you do on them. Yeah. So what flavours can you do on the ice cream? That one's just, um,
05:26vanilla, like a swirly one, but we've got the freezer there with different flavours.
05:31Great stuff, and you've got your, you can pimp it with your sprinkles and bits and bobs. Yeah.
05:35Fantastic. So Anna, that looks suspiciously like a football top to me. What's going on with there?
05:41Uh, that is suspiciously a football top? We're very proud of it. Uh, we sponsor at Cufid Eagles,
05:46the under-12s, um, Saturday Premier Midlands Junior League team. Ah, fantastic. They presented
05:54it with us only on the weekend, but we're very proud to support them. They support us.