It is that time of the year where we all tend to either be rushed off our feet getting ready for Christmas or we are starting to reminisce about the current year which leaves us in three weeks’ time.

We are still busy with Christmas gifts, and we can make up anything you would like for your loved ones, or a thank you gift to a neighbour or perhaps a little surprise for a work colleague. Whatever the reason we can help. Just pop in for a chat or email us at shop@helmsleysweets.co.uk.

Have you been keeping up to date with the antics of our temporary (very temporary) new team member on our social media? Gonk “appeared” on the 1st of December and has been causing chaos in the shop. I’m not sure how long he is staying but I can’t really say he is an asset, but he does make us laugh. Find him on our Instagram and our Facebook page. He is being very careful not to call at my house though as I fear he would be no more with three naughty spaniels.

The sweet shop has seen lots of new customers this year, both in person and online. We have also welcomed back lots of our old friends. I guess we are one of a few businesses that can say we have regular customers from over 200 miles away. Sadly, several of our local regulars have passed away and we miss them – you all become like family to us, and we do worry about you when we don’t see you for a while. Feel free to pop in for a chat even if you don’t want any sweets, we are always there for you. Happily, there has been new babies and new locals who have moved into the area. We are incredibility lucky that the shop is in such a beautiful area of North Yorkshire and often see people out on walks or day trips carrying bags of our sweets. The team have made up so many bespoke bags/boxes for leaving gifts, thank you gifts, birthdays, birthday parties, anniversaries, and weddings so come and see us if you have exciting events in 2025 and we will work with you to provide a bespoke service.

It has been an up and down year for accessing stock, but we are ending it in a much better position as several of our suppliers have caught up with production. Our main difficulty at the moment is cocoa. As you may have seen or read in the news, there has been a really poor cocoa harvest in several of the main growing countries. This means the prices have risen on the markets and in production and sadly I have had to pass on some price rises, but I have tried to keep it as low as I can.

When we opened, we took the decision to not sell the cheaper chocolate brazil nuts, raisins, peanuts etc that are cover in a “chocolate flavoured coating” but to stock proper chocolate covered ones. This won’t change as I know many of you come especially to purchase them due to the quality and taste.

Several of our team members have left and we have welcomed new members who have all settled into our ethos of giving good old fashioned customer service. I am proud of the way we try to run the shop both ethically and as sustainability as we can. It is something I feel strongly about in the way we treat our team, customers, other businesses around us and the environment. It may sound old fashioned in this day and age of fast-moving society, but sometimes we are the only contact with people that some of our customers have and its nice to chat and be a bit nostalgic about sweets. I also try, wherever possible to help out our local schools and charities with donations for fundraising. Sadly, we can’t help everyone and local will always come first. We have something very exciting we are doing next year but more about that later.

As most of you will know the plight of the Orangutans out in Indonesia and Malaysia is very close to my heart as it involves the dramatic growth of oil palm plantations. I do try very hard to locate where the palm oil in our sweets comes from and if it is ethically sourced, but sadly it’s often not possible. I have been out to Indonesia on numerous occasions with some large financial donations from our lovely customers to help the rescue and rehabilitation centres in both Borneo and Sumatra and have seen firsthand where the money goes and how much it helps. This year there is £521.47 from the collection jar, so it has been rounded up to £600 and will be been sent to OVAID (Orangutan Veterinary Aid) who at this moment are out in Sumatra delivering much needed new medical equipment and supplies to SOCP after a terrible landslide destroyed the whole centre – thankfully the staff and the orangutans are safe but they need so much help to rebuild. I want to sincerely thank anyone who has popped their change in the collection box from the bottom of my heart and on behalf of the Orangutans

The shop has been open for twelve years next year and while we have decorated it, the time has come to really do a full refurbish – the units need repairing and revarnishing which cannot be completed with the sweets in situ. Therefore, when we close on new years eve, we will not be reopening until Monday 13th January, though if all goes well and the weather is kind, we may manage Saturday 11th but I will keep you posted. However, the website will still accept orders and any locals needing their sweet fix can message us and we can arrange to deliver or for you to collect them form the shop. We are closed 25th, 26th, 27th December so there’s plenty of time for you to get stocked up.

We won’t be putting our feet up during this period, there are lots of new ideas to try and make the shop more sustainable. Lots of idea for new gift bags and tracking down sweet stock that we are often asked for. Aswell as that we are ging to try to get all the sweets we sell in the shop up onto the website as there is only about a third there at the present time. If you have any ideas or sweets that you would like us to source let me know.

The how far can your sweets go was a great success and we had lots of pictures from all over the UK and the world. You are welcome to still send them to us but next year I want to focus on “random acts of sweetiness” so watch this space.

Finally, to all our customers, a very peaceful and happy Christmas and lets all hope 2025 is a year for understanding, kindness and achieving whatever you would like to achieve no matter how small. Take care, enjoy the celebrations and we will see you all next year.

Lynn, Nick, Bex, Jess, Nicola, Karen, Sharron, Mia and Olivia, not forgetting our first in command who pops in to sort us out when she’s not at school, Lottie xxx

December Update