Sweets N Things

If you go to Sweets N Things envisaging big paper bags bursting with cola cubes, cherry lips, bon bons and dolly mixtures, you’ll leave disappointed. A few doors down from Taj on Western Road, Sweets N Things is actually a tiny newsagents that stocks cigarettes, chocolate, crisps, newspapers and a wide selection of magazines. They also stock a small selection of wine though I have to admit, the cheap adverts outside always put me off looking at the bottles on offer!
Like Norfolk News further down the street, Sweet N Things seems to be open early til late and the service is usually delivered with a smile.

Sweets N Things has a fairly large selection considering the tiny size of their shop. We don’t have newsagents in Canada, so these places are a new phenomenon for me. It seems the secret of piling things in is to have shelves that go really, really high up on the walls. I could probably only reach about ²⁄₃ of the stock without assistance.
However, it’s the boring things kept near the ceiling — expensive toiletries and basic pharmacy items, for instance. The snackables are all lower down, and there are a lot of them: Crisps, nuts, bagged sweets, chocolate bars and a variety of sugary drinks. There’s a chiller with some pre-​packaged sandwiches and salads, and the wine and cigarettes are behind the counter.
In summary, it’s pretty jam-​packed for such a tiny shop.

Now I’m a big fan of minimalism. Some of Philip Glass’ compositions are quite simply excellent, whilst even Frank Stella is beginning to grow on me. But a minimalist newsagents? I just don’t get it. Sweets N Things is a tiny little store sat along the busy Western Road, which really doesn’t offer much more than snacks and booze. The service here is fine, but considering the plethora of newsagents in the surrounding area, I really don’t see why anyone would choose to stop here over any of the other nearby stores, maybe 10 – 20 seconds walk away, whose product selections are far superior.