Traditional sweet shop opens its doors in Midhurst

Be it the scenes in the film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory or a diversion to get two ounces of midget gems on the way home from school.

Shelley Knight and Nadia Mahabir both live in Midhurst and recently opened Sweet Memories.

Nadia said: “We wanted to recapture our childhoods and both have fond memories of spending our pocket money in our local sweets shops. Shelley remembers the old sweet tuck shop in Midhurst.”

This is a new venture for both of them and neither has any shop or retail experience.

Shelley is a self employed painter and decorator. She used her skills to renovate the whole shop including building the traditional counters, storage and display units.

And Nadia is the owner of a local pre-school and nursery. She has recently had to step down from her roles and responsibilities as she is recovering from Covid.

They chose ‘Sweet Memories’ as a name in remembrance of their mothers.

Nadia said: “I lost my mum about two years ago and Shelley more recently, about two months ago to Covid.

“We are determined to turn around a terrible time to a positive and uplifting direction in our lives.”

The shop on North Street sells traditional and retro sweets, penny sweets, pick ‘n’ mix, vegan sweets, a selection of fudge and toffees, sugar free sweets, a range of gift ideas and also a pick and mix selection for dogs.

Nadia said: “We are so excited about running the shop that we are bagging up sweets in our sleep. It’s been a dream that we have talked about for many years.”

On opening day (April 14), there were ‘huge queues’ of shoppers waiting to take a peek inside.

Nadia said: “It has been fantastic. There have been huge queues all day long so it’s been absolutely brilliant.

“We have had nothing but wonderful compliments from people.”

Now the only question remains what to try first.

For Nadia her picks include peanut brittle and chocolate Jazzies, whereas Shelley is a fan of sherbert pips and coconut mushrooms.