The old library building in Worle is being refurbished and will re-open as a shop later this year.
Denise and Michael Richards have run their Sweets ‘n’ Things business for 31 years, and will relocate the shop over the road from High Street to the former library in The Maltings.
The building went up for sale last year as part of North Somerset Council’s community access review, which meant library services relocated to the children’s centre in Mendip Avenue.
The council applied for planning permission to convert the former library into a shop, ahead of exchanging contracts with the Richards family last week.
Denise told the Mercury: “We loved the building in the first instance.
“The council was very supportive of us having the building because it is better than the place being knocked down and redeveloped.
“We kept it quiet while the deal was going through, and our customers are excited about us moving to a bigger premises now they know about it.
“We have been told by customers for years we need a bigger shop. When we saw the library vacant and for sale, we put an offer in. We have been negotiating since March.”
In the current climate, many shops are leaving high streets around the country, and Denise admitted the shop was unusual in not just staying open, but expanding.
She said: “A lot of our suppliers say there is not much good news, and we are one of the few. We are happy to be in this situation.”
Sweets ‘n’ Things sells an assortment of chocolates, sweets, greetings cards and children’s toys, and the bigger space will mean the stock can grow too.
Son Chris will also join the business.
Denise said: “It will have similar products but with a wider range. We are expanding our card range, and soft toys.
“So many kids come in and say ‘it’s my favourite shop’ and we hope they will still come in.
“Hopefully we will continue to have all the regular customers, and we have disabled access now as well.
“There is no rush with opening, but we will be closing the existing premises and moving over to the new one in about September.”
New flooring has already gone down, and some of the shop fittings were installed this week.
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