Coronavirus Nibbling Away Profits At This Wilton Sweets Shop

WILTON, CT — As the state officials charged with devising a plan for reopening businesses don their thinking-caps in earnest, many small businesses are taking a fresh look at their layouts.
Nancy Saxe, owner of Wilton confectionary Sweet Pierre's, describes her retail space as "like a bowling alley." That's going to be a problem.

"It's a little bit more of a challenge than other places, like a large restaurant or a hair salon, that can space people better," Saxe said. "And I feel like food always has to be protected a little more."

Saxe has an extremely loyal clientele and says she is still ringing the register almost as much as she did in February and earlier, but the total receipts are nowhere near where they used to be. Pre-virus retail in glittery shops like Sweet Pierre's was as much about discovery as it was ticking off boxes on a grocery list: Come for a few lollipops, leave with two dozen champagne truffles.

"I do a lot of chocolate from the case," Saxe told Patch. "My loose chocolate people like to put their own assortments together and that's where this has affected me, because people can't come in."

Saxe says she sends her customers pictures, tries to describe the indescribably delicious delights to them over the phone, but it's just not cutting it. "There is something to be said for being able to stand there, look at it, pick things and say, 'I'll take two of those, and three of those, and four of those.'"

Of course, confectioners, like toy sellers, will always fare better when a parent purchaser is accompanied by their child, and that right of parenthood may be out of the question even after restrictions are lifted. Many open and essential retailers, such as grocery stores, have forbidden more than one family member from entering their stores at a time. That's a custom, along with masks, likely to remain in place for a while.

Saxe is stoically okay with all of this: "I just like to keep it safe, and keep the people who are buying knowing that it's truly just me in here, touching things. And I'm keeping my hands clean and wearing gloves. I don't feel comfortable letting anyone in the store."

The Candy Lady has been in business since 2006, starting with a shop in Ridgefield. She opened her second shop in Wilton on 5 River Road in 2010, and subsequently shuttered the Ridgefield address after about three years of keeping both afloat.

The coronavirus crunch delivered a swift kick to Sweet Pierre's jelly beans when it hit right before Easter, its second most profitable time, behind Christmas. Now it promises to do the same for the normally robust end-of-school-year business. And there's not much point in looking ahead to summer, which is always slow, Saxe said. Wilton "kind of empties out," and chocolate doesn't play well with warmer weather. She usually takes the opportunity to bring in some variations to her stock, such as chocolate sauces and jams.

Her landlord is offering to defer rent, but that won't work for Saxe. "I'd rather just try and chip away at it now."

Confectioners may not be classified as essential workers, but chocolate *is* a comfort food, and Saxe says her wares are "more in demand when people are feeling stressed." That would be now, and by all accounts, the near-future as well.

Patch is talking with local businesses who are listed as "still open" in our Guide To What's Open and Closed in Wilton.