Sweet lovers warning: Joob Joobs opens a funky candy shopping experience

Francesca (28), from Holywood, has a strong social conscious and was keen to develop a different business that would “put something back” in donations to support vulnerable people, especially children, in the Third World.

Children, families and communities in the Philippines will benefit from the success of the eye-catching shop on the busy Belmont Road through Francesca’s support for the Ten Foundations on Lisburn Road, a charity which supports vulnerable families in the Philippines through the sale of quality handbags hand made by women there.

The colourful shop for lovers of good sweets, chocolate, ice cream and coffee also reflects Francesca’s desire to “enrich the high street”.

“I believe our high streets currently needs product selection not found in supermarkets; original and tasty products that make the high street unique once again. And this is why I’ve focused on quality products from around the world that are not stocked in supermarkets here,” she explains.

She researched the market for a business for our beleaguered high streets that would be completely different and attractive to shoppers and youngsters.

“I set out to create a different and colourful sweet shop experience. The design I’ve created for the exterior and interior of the shop, therefore, is unusual and contemporary. Joob Joobs, in addition, reflects current market trends towards organic, low sugar and gluten-free. As a result, around 25 percent of our sweets are in these developing and important categories,” adds Francesca.

What she has created successfully is an innovative and quirky social enterprise that caters for virtually every type of sweet lover.

Another influence underpinning the enterprise is Francesca’s desire to create a business with a strong community connection that would attract people of all ages to enjoy its unique shopping experience.

“This is why the new store offers tables for shoppers to enjoy the sweets and also to be able to buy great coffee and ice cream,” she continues.

“I want the shop to be an integral part of the Belmont community and, therefore, plan to offer scope for children’s parties in particular in the future. I also chose the location because there is a strong community there, a good offering of shops, cafes and eateries run by independent traders. Encouragingly, the choice of smaller outlets is developing steadily.

The name Joob Joobs, Francesca explains, is a play on the old fashioned term ‘Jujubes’ dating back to 1709 as pate de jujubes, essentially a gummy fruit sweet.

Originally launched online, the new Joob Joobs shop opened in early January and is already proving popular with shoppers due to its unique selection of sweets that are featured on what is probably Ireland’s biggest candy wall anywhere. There’s another wall that revives the tradition of pick and mix self-selection of a range of old favourites such as dolly mixtures, wine gums and chocolate covered raisins. These are provided in recyclable cartons, another aspect of the company’s focus on contemporary issues including sustainability.

Joob Joobs, she continues, was initially launched as “the only independent sweet shop within the UK online”.

“I have researched this quite a bit and there was no other online platform that recreated the real sweet shop experience,” she says. “I’ve now added the bricks and mortar experience. Both are based on my contacts with independent confectionery makers across the world - from UK, Sweden, Denmark and US so far.”

The striking design and colour scheme of the shop has also been driven by the talented Francesca: “The idea of circular counter, for example, is for our staff, ‘co-creators’, to become the centre of the business and really play a much greater role than simply cash register operators. They are there to display this new world of sweets to the community and hopefully become experts in what regular customers prefer. We also have the biggest candy wall anywhere.”

What’s next for the dedicated social entrepreneur?

“We have already upgraded our ice cream for mega treats for shoppers. Joob Joobs is in fact part sweetie world and part ice cream parlour! I also have plans to redevelop our online offering with a subscription service to be launched in March. And when I am finished with that I will start on our second location. I’d hope to take the concept to locations outside Northern Ireland in time,” she adds. 

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