Sweet success for Athlone business

The recession has hit lots of businesses hard but one Athlone firm is bucking the trend taking advantage of a "confectionary boom". Speaking to the Westmeath Independent this week, Anton Shevlin of Athlone Sweets agreed that the sector is definitely enjoying plenty of growth as old-fashioned sweet shops mushroom all over the country and there's lots of nostalgia for boiled sweets and confectionary. "20 years ago when I started no one was doing boiled sweets in bags, it was only jars. Now that trend is going back to the jars. It's definitely booming," he commented, although he wonders if the sweet shop trend is a novelty. "It's a comfort thing and they are cheap. Sweets always do well in a recession," Mr Shevlin said, explaining part of the reason behind their growth. Nostalgia also plays a part, he maintains and their best-selling sweets are still the traditional clove rock, bulleyes, gluten-free marshmallows and the recently re-introduced Peggy's Leg from years gone by. The company also plan to introduce their first ever diabetic sugar-free sweets in September and a sugar-free cola bottles for children in the near future. "We're definitely bucking the trend, we're doing well," he said of the family business which employs 10 people on the road selling and distributing the confectionary manufactured in Dublin around the country. The firm currently supplies the Musgrave group, Centra, Londis, Spar and Costcutters. Although Anton Shevlin started out in a sweet shop in Church Street, he said even with the rise in number of outlets opening again he won't be making a return to that side of the business. While sweet shops are enjoying huge popularity and they sell a lot of products to them, in the long-term he believes Irish people will still go for one-stop-shops where they can buy their sweets, groceries and newspaper in a single place.