Ramsbottom: Sweet shop praises community for 'great response'

Ramsbottom Sweets Treats and Teddy Bears has been a fixture on Bridge Street for years.

It stocks a range of of classic sweets and the much-loved Charlie Bears.

Inside Ramsbottom Sweets Treats and Teddy Bears on Bridge Street (Image: Megan Nuttall)

The shop also stocks teddy bears (Image: Megan Nuttall)

Owner Wendy Philbin bought the shop from its previous owners just before the summer last year.

But like many small businesses amid the cost of living crisis and competition from supermarkets, the shop has been struggling for trade.

In a recent Facebook post, Wendy said: "Community- I need your help.”

She explained that due to summer sales not going as well as hoped “we can roughly survive another two months".

Inside the shop (Image: Megan Nuttall)

The store's struggles follows the closures of a number of shops in the town that have had to close in the last year.

Wendy's sister Jenny Philbin, who manages the shop, said: “I think it's the same around a lot of places, really.

"The shop relies on local people and with these big supermarkets people tend to get everything from there and forget about the little shops, not just this one.”

As well as a slow summer the run up to Christmas has also brought in less business than expected.

"It's to be expected because everybody's struggling the same," Jenny said, as she acknowledges the difficulties other businesses have faced.

But after Wendy's social media post, the business has had a "great response" with an influx of new customers coming into the shop to buy goods. 

Inside the shop (Image: Megan Nuttall)

Jenny said: "The people that came in were faces that we'd never seen before.

"They'd seen our post on Facebook and just wanted to show a little bit of support.

"Some spent a little bit of money, some spent quite a lot of money, both of which was brilliant. 

“It was just the fact that they thought about the shop.

"And it was quite emotional really, people came in and were saying really sweet things.”

Jenny says she and Wendy have always felt at home in the sweet shop as their parents owned a paper shop as they were growing up.

Wendy saw purchasing the business as an overall great opportunity and a way to pay tribute her childhood.

The shop has a variety of sweets, their most popular being black and white mints and a lot of older classics that their regulars adore.

The shop has a raft of plans in the run up to Christmas and hopes that community will carry on its brilliant support.

Jenny added: “We just want to reach out to people and just say, even if it was just that one time you came in, it was really appreciated.”