Us Brits have been in love with pick and mix sweets for decades. Research has even shown that 37% of us prefer pick and mix to any other types of sweets.
Many of us remember visiting Woolies as a child, annoying our family enough to let us choose some pick and mix sweets.
Filling your cup full of your favourites and using all the available space was the key to a successful pick and mix haul. If you were clever, you’d fill up empty cracks with smaller sweets like chocolate raisins to get as many treats as possible.
But why have us Brits got such a thing for pick and mix? Let’s dive into the reasons and explore how the concept of pick and mix has evolved over the years.
Nostalgia from our childhood
You’ll often see fully grown adults nibbling into their pick and mix bag side by side with their kids or even alone. Why?
Pick and mix sweets are a childhood favourite for many people. As a kid, the vast selection of flavours, styles, and textures to choose from was overwhelming and exciting.
These sweets evoke nostalgia in many people and are a tradition from British childhood. People of all ages love pick and mix, from squishy jelly babies to classic rhubarb and custards. Even students and young professionals love treating themselves to pick and mix.
Many adult customers love retro-style sweets. It keeps the category interesting and reminds them of their younger years.
Sweet treats
While the saying is often ‘sharing is caring’, this doesn’t usually ring true for pick and mix fans. Choosing a bag or packet of pick and mix is most enjoyable on your own, so you can select the sweets you really want.
There’s definitely a ‘treat’ motivation for pick and mix, and you’ll often find little kids dragging their families over to the serving section.
People may often think ‘well I’ve been really healthy all week now so it’s time to grab some pick and mix to take home as a treat’ before stocking up on sweets.
The selection of colourful, visible, and accessibly priced pick and mix sweets is an exciting concept for kids and adults. Pay a visit to any sweet shop on the high street or online selling pick and mix, and you’ll quickly understand why the concept is such a hit.
With an awesome mixture of eye-catching goodies, it can seem impossible to walk past the pick and mix station without at least having a cheeky look. There’s everything from hard candies, soft jellies, sour fizzies and don’t forget the chocolate selection.
Likewise, the wide variety means you’re never a few scoops away from your dream candy selection. There’s always a combo available to delight every palate.
What you see is what you get
From a business owner’s perspective, selling pick and mix sweets is a great way to attract customers into a store or to start a conversation. After all, they’re so bright and pretty.
Pick and mix sweets can be displayed in various ways, but the most popular is in a traditional red candy shop jar.
Everyone is familiar with the image and links it with pick and mix candy. Seeing a line of these novelty jars will definitely evoke a sense of nostalgia in adults or excitement in kids.
The look of the candy in the jars will have people reminiscing about sherbet fountains and old-school toffees. As soon as the lid is opened on these lovely jars, you’ll be hit with the sweet smell of candies – a familiar scent loved by people all around the world.
The history of pick and mix
Many people don’t know that the concept of pick and mix was born in North America in 1886. Decades later, pick and mix was introduced in the UK. Pick and mix sweets soon became popular in Britain in the summer of 1909.
Frank Woolworth is the man who popularised the tradition of buying confectionery. Frank decided to open his first store in Liverpool on Church Street in November 1909. He chose Liverpool thanks to its impressive transport infrastructure and growing industry.
To fill the sweet shop, Woolworth imported candies from New York. Meanwhile, suppliers were preparing to stock the other Woolworth outlets in London Road, Preston, and Liverpool.
Soon, the counters in Woolworth stores were stacked with different types of sweeties in wrappers made of shiny foil, produced in British and Irish factories.
The sweets sold in Woolworth shops got the nickname ‘Pick n Mix’ by customers in the 1950s, and this name has been adopted and used ever since.
From the beginning of their opening, these shops sold ice cream as well as pick and mix sweets. But during these times, most shoppers had no access to freezers in their homes, as they only became popular fifty years later.
So, ice cream was also a novelty for shoppers at the time. They could buy two sorts of ice cream – cones and sandwiches.
Of course, the former was eaten as soon as it was purchased. The latter was packed for shoppers to take home.
Ice cream sandwiches were ice cream slabs set between wafers. They were tightly packed to keep cold until customers reached their homes.
The availability of pick and mix sweets and ice cream made Woolworths even more attractive to shoppers seeking a sweet treat or two.
While the assortment of pick and mix is huge today, it was much more limited a century ago when the concept was first introduced.
The evolution of Woolworths stores
As mentioned, Frank Woolworth first wanted to source the sweets for his store from New York. However, from market research, he soon discovered that British factories were more efficient, cost-effective, and reliable.
In 1909 between July and October, William Stephenson took a UK tour, visiting small and large factories. His tour was successful, and he managed to provide twenty varieties of British sweets by Woolworth’s opening day.
Stephenson’s role didn’t just involve sourcing. He was responsible for shaping the store’s presentations, too. The displays had a square exterior and round interior to comfortably hold around three kilograms of sweets.
To celebrate the special occasion of opening his store in Britain, Woolworth had several sweets specially produced for the company with the brand name Milady. At the time, the best-selling sweets were butterscotch, toffee, and raspberry ruffles.
Between 1910 and 1920, the displays were filled several times a day.
In the 1920s, Woolworth customers were served by staff members standing behind island counters. Underneath the displays were understocks, which were the cupboards, where shop assistants kept the sweet reserves.
When staff members had to take out more stock, they called the supervisor to provide them with the key. At the end of the 1920s and the start of the 1930s, stores introduced glass-fronted counters.
These counters had more space and could keep 12.7 kilograms of each type of candy. Yet despite the increase in size, the popularity of pick and mix meant that the counters had to be refilled by noon on busy days.
Milady sweets became best-sellers by 1930 thanks to the tasty recipes and attractive logo. Shoppers loved these sweets so much that they were happy to pay extra for a richer taste.
Fudge and boiled sweets were also popular with customers during these times. The fudge was light and creamy, with delicious ingredients like vanilla, coffee, chocolate, walnut, and maple.
Boiled sweets were created with sugar and glucose, delivering fruity and spices flavours to the taste buds.
By 1939, just before the second world war, Woolworth had become the leading confectionery seller in the UK. His stores were filled with pick and mix sweets, chocolate, and candy bars. The competition had to lower their prices under sixpence to remain competitive.
For health, safety, and hygiene concerns, in most sweet shops today, candies are kept behind the counter to stop kids and adults from sticking their hands in the jars. When ordered, the candies are weighed on a set of scales and then transferred into a food-safe bag sealed for freshness and flavouring.
Pick and mix sweets online
Nowadays, many candy stores operate online. By finding the right online sweet store to order from, customers can have their favourite pick and mix sweets delivered straight to their door.
Online sweets delivery has had a massive resurgence, especially over the last few years during the pandemic. During COVID-19, sweets sold well online when times were hard.
There are many reasons why pick and mix are doing so well online. First, online stores can often promise the freshness and taste of sweets using sealed bags.
Of course, another key benefit of choosing pick and mix sweets online is that ordering is easy. All you need to do is visit the online candy store of your choice, select the sweets you want, and make your purchase.
This convenient ease of ordering and having sweets delivered straight to the doorstep often makes an online purchase a preferred option. Not only that, but you don’t need to queue in a shop as you can order from the comfort of your home.
And being part of a fast-paced world, many of our lives are so busy that finding the time to go to a sweet shop in person and choose what you want is challenging. Choosing pick and mix sweets online is the way to go if you need a last-minute treat delivery or gift.
Ordering candies for home delivery allows you the chance to purchase whenever you want. You can even buy sweets in the middle of the night when purchasing from a local sweet store isn’t possible. You can choose your sweets with no time constraints and can have them sent anywhere throughout the country.
Then there’s value for money, too. Many online sweet stores offer reasonable prices, great deals, and a delicious, fresh taste. For example, you may find that ordering in a larger quantity means that you get much better value for money than choosing a small bag. Plus, you get more sweets: win-win.
The nation’s favourites
But which of the pick and mix sweets are the nation’s favourites?
The French Bedroom Company has looked at our choices when it comes to eating sweets and snacks at home, discovering our food habits when it comes to eating treats.
In their survey, The French Bedroom Company independently surveyed 2,005 people who like eating sweets to find out the top ten. They asked Brits to rank their favourite pick and mix selection sweets based on taste and value for money.
The much-loved fried eggs came out on top, with fizzy bubblegum bottles second and flying saucers third.
Sour cherries came fourth, with lips, milk chocolate gems, and sour dummies up next. Fizzy cola bottles were in eighth place before the watermelon slice and jelly crocodiles.
The survey also found that 65% of people prefer sweets over chocolate in their pick and mix. A huge 86% have a process to maximise the number of candies they can fit in their pick and mix boxes for the best price – we told you!
Almost half of the savvy customers stated that they don’t like to choose fudge in their pick and mix because it takes up too much space and weighs the pick and mix boxes down too heavily.
Interestingly, 23% of Brits choose the flying saucers as their first sweet because they squash down well.
The poll also showed a clear divide between sweet and sour palettes, along with a heated debate around the chocolate selection.
By now your mouth must be drooling with all this sweetie talk. For the best deals on pick and mix sweets, take a look at current offers.
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