Sweet Molly's relocates to expanded location in West End
Sweet Molly's Scottish, Irish and English shop has just moved into its new home at 352 Queen Street East, Unit One. This is only a couple of doors away from the store's last location in the plaza, but this new iteration of Sweet Molly's is located in a much bigger space in what was once a Becker's store, and most recently was the Spinning Grill.
According to owner Carrie-Ann Bennie, the 2,900 square retail space will allow her to offer more displays and products. “There is so much room for growth,” she explained. “I can bring in so many more lines from the UK. We are doing a North American section as well as a Newfoundland section right in the corner. We also want to get into salt beef and pork. Newfoundland products are much in demand since Sobey's stopped carrying them.”
The new location has just been occupied for over a week, but Bennie is already thinking of adding a vegan, diabetic and gluten-free section. As well, one section in the north-west corner will be devoted to darts, with a board on the wall where customers can test fly darts before buying them.
“We carry so much that appeals to a variety of people, it's not just a British shop,” she said. But the British meat freezer is well stocked, as you can imagine, with square sausages, black pudding, English bangers, Irish links sausages and even haggis. “Among the UK soft drinks, ginger beer is very popular. We carry a full-line of British cheeses and we always have clotted cream.”
Evidently, people from the UK like barley water and the store also has a full complement of squash drinks. Varieties of Walker's crisps are in abundance (what we call “potato chips” in Canada), with some unusual flavourings like pickled onion.
Then there are the chocolates, some brands which are the same as the chocolate bars sold in Canadian stores, but there is a world of difference according to Bennie's daughter Renee. “You can get Cadbury chocolates and Malteasers in Canada but these are made with UK chocolate which is creamier and way better.”
The move has allowed Bennie to triple her kitchen size and provide more varieties of sweets and baked goods. Soft Scottish rolls, called Babs bread, are not baked on-site but are snapped up quickly when they arrive on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Molly the Moose has moved along with the store and now has a prominent place by the front doors. Bennie opened her first Sweet Molly's at 119 Mill Street East in 2010, and Molly the Moose arrived in 2011.
The fibreglass totem has been attacked multiple times by vandals, but one of the worst attacks happened about ten years ago when Molly's leg was badly broken. The culprits were never caught, but a fundraiser during one of the Leathertown Festivals raised money so the leg could be repaired. “Molly's staying inside from now on,” added Bennie.
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