A 26-year-old entrepreneur has started a business based on the nation's love of pick 'n' mix sweets originally made famous by Woolworth stores.
William Godfrey, from Dereham, remembered his love as a child of venturing into Woolworth's to feast on its 'pick 'n' mix' and is now running Sweetzy which allows you to order all your favourite sweets delivered to your door.
He offers vegan, vegetarian and gluten-free options and has just invested in recyclable packaging. And the sweet dream is fast becoming a success with William having sent out more than 12,000 orders since starting Sweetzy in February. He runs it from home and employs his sister Zoe Sandell part-time who does all the packaging.
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Prior to this he ran his own firm repairing and recycling old mobile phones after he working in this industry after leaving City College Norwich where he studied business and IT.
"I can remember going into Woolworth's and cramming as many of the sweets into a bag as possible," he said. "I think a lot of people remember doing this too, so my business is about nostalgia. It all started by me thinking of selling something most people love. I thought if you had 100 people, and a variety of different sweets, there would be at least one that everyone liked."
William realises there is lots of competition with other similar services and pick 'n' mix is still available in some cinemas and supermarkets. "I need to get to a year and then I will be looking for investment," he added.
Ordering is easy using William's website with options to create your own pouch of sweets or one which is already mixed. The choices come in four different sizes according to weight ranging from a 'snack' pouch which is 250g for £2.99, an 'enough for two' pouch, 400g for £4.99, a 'share' pouch, 600g for £6.99 or the 'mega share' pouch, 1,100g for £9.99. Varieties include about 60 different sweets to choose from including many of the old favourites such as pink shrimps, foam bananas, cola bottles, cola cubes, rhubarb and custards, chocolate limes, mint humbugs, fruit salads and even Pontefract cakes.
William introduces new additions with white chocolate mice soon to be available and has also just created a next-day free delivery service for NR19 postcodes.
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