The brains behind a new sweet shop in Shrewsbury thinks running a business is child\u2019s play – and at just six years of age little Mollie Price is the UK’s youngest entrepreneur.<\/p>\n
Mollie\u2019s mum, Becky Price, has opened the third branch of Mollie\u2019s, a modern sweetshop selling traditional British sweets and American candy, in the town\u2019s Pride Hill Shopping Centre.<\/p>\n
And according to Becky, the shop is organised and stocked to her daughter\u2019s strict instructions – as are her Welshpool and Newtown stores.<\/p>\n
Becky said: \u201cIt might sound crazy but believe me Mollie is the real brains behind the operation. She dictates what we sell and is up at 5am every Sunday ready to go to our wholesale suppliers in Birmingham to restock.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce there she very carefully chooses what we buy and what we should and should not stock. She really is very particular. And it seems to work as we have been incredibly busy since opening our latest store in Pride Hill.<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, we have a prime location and chose Pride Hill because it\u2019s incredibly vibrant and always busy. And of course we have the benefit of seven day trading which is a huge help to a business such as ours.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Becky says she always listens to her daughter\u2019s advice when it comes to running he sweetshops.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cMollie has always loved sweetshops whether it\u2019s drawing colourful pictures of shops stocked to the rafters with sweets of all colours or watching films such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which is her all-time favourite.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd she has some wonderful ideas. For instance, we have two large tin soldiers standing guard at the entrance to our Pride Hill shop which she insisted are called Alfie and George after her two brothers.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe also came up with the idea of a temperature chart on the wall in Pride Hill so if it\u2019s really cold we sell our Mr Whippy ice creams cheaper than when it\u2019s hot outside. For someone so young I believe that really shows a marvellous business brain.\u201d<\/p>\n
And Becky says she has plans to introduce more American candy and a candy floss machine into the Pride Hill store in the near future.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cMollie loved it when we went on holiday to America and came back full of ideas of selling candy back home. That\u2019s why we already stock more than 50 flavours of Jelly Belly beans.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd Mollie now wants us to have an M&M\u2019s colour coded section which is something we are going to do. We have also installed a Slush bar and the latest Mr Whippy machine which automatically pipes on different flavoured sauces.<\/p>\n
\u201cNothing is done in any of the shops without consulting Mollie. And, believe me, if she doesn\u2019t think an idea will work she has no hesitation in telling you so.<\/p>\n
\u201cI suppose, by listening to Mollie what we are doing is ensuring our shops appeal to all ages.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kevin Lockwood, Manager of the Darwin, Pride Hill and Riverside Shopping Centres, said: \u201cIn retail the trick is to know what your customers want and to provide it for them and thanks to Mollie they\u2019ve got a real inside track to what children like in a sweetshop.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd it is great to see an old-fashioned sweet shop like this doing so well with so many of the old favourite sweets still as popular as ever \u2013 there\u2019s a been a real buzz at the store ever since it opened.\u201d<\/p>\n
And Becky says the Pride Hill shop has created four new part time jobs with the promise of more on the horizon.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cI opened the first branch of Mollies in Welshpool where we live in November 2010 and followed that up by opening the second branch in Newtown a year later.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe opened the doors to the Pride Hill store in May this year and, although I want to take my time, I will be looking at other potential sites in the future.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am currently running the Shrewsbury store myself but will need a full-time manager when we are ready to open a fourth branch of Mollie\u2019s.<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, that\u2019s in the future and I am just delighted at how well our Pride Hill branch has been received by Shrewsbury shoppers and visitors. It has been incredibly busy right from day one.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been fantastic and I am absolutely delighted with how it\u2019s gone so far. And I know Mollie is pretty thrilled too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mollie, who attends Buttington Primary School in Welshpool, says she wants to help run her sweetshops when she\u2019s older.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cI really love sweetshops and I like seeing them all colourful and everyone really happy.<\/p>\n
\u201cChildren have the best ideas. I tell my mum what I think and she always says I have good ideas. It\u2019s just that I know what other children like.\u201d<\/p>\n