How to Start Your Own Sweet Shop
No one ever really grows out of eating sweets and candy. You will see this from the range of age people who frequent sweet shops. They are particularly popular for occasions such as Valentine’s day, Halloween, easter and of Course Christmas. If you have a sweet tooth and a real passion for candy then it would be entirely understandable if you have ever thought about opening a shop of your very own. It doesn’t matter whether you are looking to open an old fashioned candy shop or a store that stocks some of the more contemporary american sweets, there are several aspects which you will need to consider.
The first aspect of your business to take into consideration is your target market. You may automatically assume that you are just going to focus on children, however bearing in mind what we have already stated you may wish to also target a mature audience. There are also different varieties of sweets to take into consideration such as nostalgic candy, sugar free sweets and of course chocolates. There are also luxury sweets which are made with exotic ingredients which may be more appealing to those who can afford to spend a little more money. Once you have decided on your main market this will help you to tailor the atmosphere and decor of your store accordingly.
Just like when you are looking for a new house, the old mantra of ‘location, location, location’ is just as important when deciding on the whereabouts of your shop. Candy shops will do well when they are in a high traffic area as sweets are very typically an impulse purchase. If you have a steady stream of people walking by the shop then this will be ideal. Popular location for sweet shops are shopping mall booths or kiosks, a shop in a busy shopping centre or on any street where there will be a high volume of pedestrains such as near a school.
Very well organised sweet shops will attract and manage to retain their customers so it is of the utmost importance that you have plenty of supplies at the ready before you open for business. You will of course need shelves, jars and containers to hold the candy. Like most candy shops you will also require plastic scoops and scales if you are going to sell your products by weight. This is an especially good idea as people are generally quite poor at judging how much they have bought and may be reluctant to put sweets back if they find they have spent too much.
The largest part of your shop’s inventory will of course be the sweets themselves. If you can purchase all of your sweets from a wholesale supplier then this will help you to save money in the long run. You may not wish to limit your services to just candy, branching out as you could into specialist areas such as candy gifts, candy bouquets and candy gift delivery so there are plenty of avenues through which you could make money. Don’t forget to look into setting up a website too!
Author Bio: Trevor Richards is writing on behalf of American Soda, a leading online retailer of american sweets.
Category: Business
Keywords: sweets, candy, american candy, food, sugar, diet, gifts, weddings