Due to an increased appetite for retro treats Simpkins, the UK’s first travel sweet tin manufacturer, has seen a huge increase in the sales of its established ranges of hard-boiled flavoured sweets, Nipits liquorice pellets, lozenges and sugar-free mints.
Simpkins has also introduced an online shop in August last year. This increased sales from August to December 2009 by 45% compared to the first half of the year, and overall monthly sales for 2010 have increased 100% compared with 2008.
Simpkins Managing Director Adrian Simpkin says: “People feel very nostalgic about confectionery, reminding them of happy times during their childhood. The increased popularity of retro sweets may be due to the recession making people reminisce about the past, and treating themselves with their favourite confections.
“Our online shop means that a wider range of customers can access our products. We have also spent time putting a modern twist on our original 1920s packaging, as well as creating new ranges for younger consumers who are too young to be nostalgic!”
Confectionery in Britain has developed throughout the decades, with the introduction of boiled sweets in the 1920s, pioneered by Simpkins, a taste for sherbet in the 1950s, chewy sweets favoured in the 1960s and 1970s, and ‘pick and mix’ popular in the 1980′s.
Adrian continues: “All the major supermarkets have cashed in on the retro sweets trend, producing old favourites such as Black Jacks, Mint Imperials and Flying Saucers. However, only traditional manufacturers like Simpkins, who follow the same recipes and methods used in the 1920s, can make the sweets taste exactly like they did all those years ago.”
As well as through the website www.traditionalsweets.com, Simpkins sweets are available in Yorkshire branches of Tesco, nationwide health stores, pharmacies, and independent retailers such as Harrods.
Source: Simpkins
