Traditional Sweet Shop With Much More For Sale

Business description

This long established business is situated in the High Street of the historic Town of Ross on Wye.

Ross on Wye is located in Herefordshire on the River Wye and is close to both the famous Wye Valley and the Forest of Dean, making it a major tourist destination.

The business was started in August 2005, by the present owner, and her idea was to create a traditional sweet shop with a heritage theme. The main products on offer are boiled sweets which are displayed in large screw top jars and sold loose in bags, plus English and Belgium chocolates and fudge, which are also stored and sold loose, but can be boxed in attractive boxes if required. Other sweets available are various lollypops, jelly beans and dolly mixtures, and a selection of biscuits is on offer in boxes or tins.

To compliment the sweet sales and in keeping with the heritage theme, other items have been added. A selection of music from the 1920s to the 1940s has been introduced, and a licence obtained to play music in the shop as well as selling CDs by various artists from that period.

Another addition was a range of famous Robert Opie “Nostalgic Advertising Plaques” and this shop has been granted sole selling rights for these plaques in Ross. More recently toys were introduced; these were originally collectables rather than toys for children to play with and consisted of tin trains, cars, aeroplanes etc. Later a range of “Retro Pocket Money Toys” was included and similar items including footballs will soon be available.

The shop is quite large and we are advised it measures about 475 sq ft (44sq m), leaving a lot of room to introduce more items and to also increase the variety of sweets on offer.

Apart from the goods on sale there is the family life museum, which is a hobby of the owner and displays mainly family articles for a period between 1850 and 1940. Private groups visit the shop to see the display and the intention is that they will purchase the other goods whilst in the shop.

A lot of space is devoted to the display and the shop is registered as a tourist attraction, but it may be that the space used would produce more profit if it was turned into a proper retails area with additional articles for sale.

The owner has a long break in the winter and closes for over a month so the accounts only cover nine working months.

Property information

Property:

Leasehold

Lease terms:

Two years left on lease @ £10,000pa then another five years will be granted

Location:

In the High Street in The Old Corn Exchange

Other information

Expansion potential:

Lots of areas to expand

Competition / Market:

None similar locally

Support & training:

Any required

Reasons for selling:

Owner has to move away

Trading hours:

Tues to Sat 10-.00am to 4.30pm Sunday 11.00am to 4.30pm

Contact the seller