Sweetie Shop

When I was a wee girl I wasn't allowed sweets during the week, but at the weekend my dad would take me to Parkhead Cross where the best shop in the world was: an old fashioned sweetie shop. There he would buy me a hollow chocolate figure - maybe an animal or a santa at Christmas - and a bag of chocolate money. I savoured each morsel of chocolate and it was made all the more special by only being enjoyed on Saturdays.

Inverurie, the nearest small town to where I live now, used to have a proper old fashioned sweetie shop. There was a wooden counter with an old fashioned till and scales. Behind the counter were shelves containing scores of jars of sweets: sherbets, Russian caramels, soor plums, mints.... too many to mention. They also had a range of speciality chocolates and a section of pick and mix for young kids. I took my own daughter there when she was young and loved to watch her politely ask for the candies she wanted for her treat.

That shop shut a couple of years ago and after a few months the new shop, Sarah's Heavenly Fudge, opened. It has a fair range of sweets and stock some of the chocolates and sweets I enjoyed when I was a kid. But... it is modern, the decor is cheap, the counter is low and not more than a trestle table... It's expensive too and while I was happy to pay higher prices when there was atmosphere and care taken, I just feel I'm being ripped off here.

Still, here it is. The Inverurie Sweetie Shop.