Clacton: Sweet sales through the roof (From Clacton and Frinton Gazette)

Clacton: Sweet sales through the roof

2:41pm Wednesday 20th October 2010 in News By Dave Lambert

ESSEX has the sweetest tooth in the country according to 99p Stores.

With bags of sweets flying off the shelves in anticipation of Halloween, the Essex branches of the discount store chain have reported the most sales.

This increase comes in the lead up to Halloween, which has suddenly cemented itself as the biggest holiday after Christmas.

Hussein Lalani, managing director of 99p Stores, said: “Halloween is now easily the most popular spending time of the year after Christmas. It has suddenly overtaken Easter, Valentines and Mothers Day.”

The store in Clacton town centre has been particularly busy, recording extraordinarily high sales in sweets, particularly pick and mix. In the Clacton store pick and mix is in the top five bestselling items, whereas in other regions it struggles to make it into the top 20.

Mr Lalani said: “Halloween is getting bigger and bigger every year, and that definitely impacts sales. I think the popularity of things like Harry Potter and Twilight are getting people more into the spirit of it.

“There is also the fact that we have filled a void left by the demise of Woolworths, which obviously used to sell pick and mix.”