Illawarra residents won't need to travel far to experience quality sweets that until COVID-19 were only available at The Rocks Market in Sydney for almost 20 years.
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When the coronavirus pandemic brought the markets to a close Ric and Pam Cann started looking for a new place to call home for The Licorice Shop. And they found the perfect location at Lakeside Drive.
The couple are planning a soft opening on Saturday but judging by the response from locals they are providing several options for people eager to try their sweets.
They have set an area aside for locals to order online and then call into the shop pick up their treats.
"We have three orders in here already waiting to be picked up," Mrs Cann said.
"And we have a little table out the front with a sign saying "sample". People have been coming up and taking a little bag of samples. We have had a lot of people asking if we are open yet. It is a happy business and even with the parcels we send out it is always a happy package they receive with balloons on the outside.
"We have been at The Rocks Market for 20 years and when COVID happened the markets closed and since then we have been online. We didn't go back to the markets and a lot of our regulars from The Rocks have been asking when are we going to have a shop front. Well this is it."
The couple chose Dapto when their son's family saw a vacant shop in Lakeside Dr, Kanahooka.
"We were ready to sign somewhere else. We came down took one look and said "this is it". Of all the places we have seen this is absolutely beautiful"," Mrs Cann said.
She has been surprised by the number of people stopping by to welcome them, saying they had been customers at The Rocks.
"A lot of people used to come up from Wollongong on the weekend," Mrs Cann said.
"Originally at The Rocks Market we were chocolate, then we did chocolate and liquorice for some time and then branched over to just liquorice because at the markets you are very limited in what you are allowed to sell."
The Licorice Shop has been able to sell other sweets online and started stocking Walkers English Toffees, confectionary and Dutch treats which will all be available at the new shop.
"A lot of people coming here and knocking on the door while we have been setting up have wanted to know if we sell Dutch. That started off with one or two products but has grown to be one of our biggest lines. We have a very extensive range," Mrs Cann said.
The Licorice Shop will keep taking orders online.
Prior to starting the sweet business in Sydney two decades ago the couple had restaurants in Cairns.
Mrs Cann said her husband loved the face-to-face contact with people and will now be able to do that again in Dapto where the shop will be open seven days a week.
"We couldn't be in a nicer place," Mrs Cann said.
"It is absolutely gorgeous here."
Mrs Cann said it wasn't just children excited about a new sweet shop opening near Datpo.
The Licorice Shop name was also attracting interest from other generations.
"It is older people who buy liquorice in a lot of cases," she said.
They use the American spelling because the English spelling of liquorice confused some people.
"The first week we sold liquorice at the markets the first people who came in included a lady who dragged her child away and said "you can't have that, it has alcohol". She drew a straight translation from liqour to alcohol".
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