Mariposa Market has recently converted the Scent Shop into a Victorian-era style candy store.
Owner Bob Willsey says plans were in motion this past winter to transform the Scent Shop into what's now called, The Sweet Shoppe, with the goal of opening before Easter. However, COVID-19 restrictions kept the doors closed at the shop until earlier this summer.
“The pandemic threw a kink into our plans and delayed the opening by about eight weeks,” he said.
The idea came to Willsey after noticing how many customers seem to have a sweet tooth.
“We have had such a mix of customers that come through the door. We have older people, we have families, we got young kids, we got a whole mix. The thing about the Scent Shop is it was geared toward a very specific clientele, so we thought it was time for a bit of an update or a change,” he explained.
“We wanted to appeal to a broader base and to somebody who is looking for something a little bit different for a treat.”
Mariposa Market has had plenty of success in the past with their saltwater taffy line called Taffy Town.
“That made us think, well let’s build from this taffy line and our brand-new chocolate machine that we brought in for melting. We started experimenting with different things and we started to realize that this was the direction we wanted to go in,” Willsey said.
Since converting the Scent Shop to The Sweet Shoppe, Willsey and his staff have had nothing but positive feedback.
“With summer being here and children having such a terrible time over the last year and a half, they have been really excited to see a new candy store,” he said.
“It lightens the atmosphere and brings them a lot of joy.”
While the children are enjoying the candy store, it’s actually the adults who seem to be getting the biggest kick out of visiting the shop, Willsey says.
“We have a lot of different candy lines including some old-fashioned hard candies, Lucky Elephant popcorn, Cracker Jack...A lot of fun candy lines that some of the older people might not have seen for a while,” he said.
“There are some nostalgic candies in here that will appeal to the 40-, 50-, and 60-year-old kids, so to speak.”
The Sweet Shoppe is also a way for Mariposa Market to bring back a piece of its past.
“We had a toy section that kind of shrunk over the years. Now we have the room to have some fun toys for kids, some old-fashioned toys, and some new ones. We carry things that are fun for the whole family,” Willsey said.
The Sweet Shoppe is located at 109 Mississaga St., E., and is open every day from 7 a.m. till 6 p.m.
