An image of the front of our Sidmouth sweet shop

We have been asked this week to answer a few questions about DaffyDownDilly Confectioners for the newspaper.

So if you fancy a sneak preview, here you are…

Please Introduce yourself.

Hi,

My name is Natalie Brittain and I’m a co-founder and proprietor of DaffyDownDilly Confectioners at 63 High Street, Sidmouth. I’m married to Rob and we live in Sidbury. I manage the shop and our associated e-commerce business on a day-to-day basis along with looking after Tom, my youngest child who is just 3 years old.

What made you decide to set up shop as an independent trader in Sidmouth?

We decided we wanted to open a High Street sweet shop in Sidmouth catering for all age groups. Our vision was to provide an unbeatable selection of traditional sweets, retro sweets. American candy and confectionery hampers and gifts at very competitive prices. Along with a specialised range of gluten-free and sugar-free sweets to cater for diabetics and those who are dieting but still want a treat.

We were determined that our shop should become a destination for the young and old. And that when they visited the shop it would be a memorable experience. So, we designed the premises to be bright and cheerful and, very importantly, we decided to provide good, old fashioned and friendly service.

How do you see your business faring over the next five years?

We’re now into our 3rd year of trading and each year we’ve seen a substantial increase in trade. We enjoy good seasonal trade from visitors to the town. But our core business is the large number of loyal, local repeat customers, many of whom have become good friends.

We’re developing more and more business catering for events such as birthdays and weddings by supplying sweet cakes and sweet buffets. Our sweet hampers and American candy hampers are becoming increasingly popular. As well as the free local delivery service we provide to Sidmouth and the surrounding areas.

In addition to our Daffy-down-dilly High Street shop we’re also putting in lots of hard work developing national and international trade from our e-commerce site at www.daffydowndilly.co.uk.

What one piece of advice would you give to anybody considering setting up a local independent shop?

Try emulating the type of good, old fashioned service provided by the famous Fields of Sidmouth.