A Very English Sweet Shoppe
I am on a train pulling out of Victoria Station. There is a family of five seated across the aisle. Just as the train begins to move, the children spring from their seats and gather around their mother. She produces a clear plastic bag filled with wrapped hard candies. Each child is allowed one piece - to begin with, that is. For the next two hours I watch this family consume piece after piece after piece of candy. And they are clearly enjoying every sugar high moment of it. I am jealous. Why didn’t I pack sweets for the trip? Well, probably because I am an American. It is 1978 and all I can hear is my mother’s voice in the back of my head warning me of the dangers of eating candy outside the range of a toothbrush and sink and flouride. A piece of fruit, maybe. A hard butterscotch? Never. Reckless abandon like this would surely lead to a mouth full of cavities. Or worse, a toothless grin.
I return home and still can’t get the image of the happy, sweet-eating English Family out of my mind. They may have been consuming their own weight in empty calories, but they sure looked damn happy doing it. I know that I must get my own bag o’ sweets. But where? They must be imported. Brach’s simply won’t do. And then I remember Woolworth’s Drug Store at the corner of Market and Powell. At the cable car turn. (If you ever see a postcard of the cable car turn, circa 1940, you will recognize the building as the Owl Pharmacy. It is now a Gap.) In the 70's, this Woolworth’s was known for its amazing stock of imported hard candies. The candies were displayed in the clear plastic bags they were shipped in. The tops of the bags were carefully rolled down to reveal the candy inside. There were at least eight display islands, about 6 foot square, that the bags were displayed on, one nestled right next to the other. A cardboard sign on a wooden stick was stuck in the middle of each island displaying the flag of the country the candies on that particular table were from. England had at least four tables to itself. I was very impressed. Scotland and Ireland each had a table. The last two tables were for American candies. I took a paper bag and began filling it. One of these, two of those. My memory tells me that all of the candy was priced the same. No minimum.
Since Woolworth’s closed, it has been impossible to find a selection of sweets imported from the UK. Until last month, that is. Fiona’s Sweet Shoppe has magically appeared. Like a candy store out of a scene from Mary Poppins, Fiona has filled her cozy shop with floor to ceiling shelves stocked with clear glass jars filled to the brim with English, Irish and Scottish treats. Quarter pound minimum.
FIONA’S SWEET SHOPPE, Fiona Frie, Founder. “Bewitching Candy”, 214 Sutter St., SF, 94108. 415-671-9162, fiona@fionassweetshoppe.com
