Dream Job

You may or may not know that I work part-time in a bookstore to help supplement my modest crafter's income, and also to occasionally get me out of the house so I don't devolve into a complete hermit lifestyle. My job at the bookstore is to take care of the gift section merchandising. I prefer to work with the books, but this job has its advantages. For example, I'm the first to know when things go on sale, and it also accommodates my slightly obsessive-compulsive need to line things up in pretty, colour-matched rows. The big advantage of the job at the moment is that spring is starting to arrive in the retail world and colours are brighter and lighter, and volume of merchandise is beginning to increase again as the meagre post-Christmas months get buried in the past.

This week I have been merchandising carton after carton of pastel coloured Easter goods. This year we seem to have an emphasis on old-fashioned style candy and it set me to day-dreaming, as is prone to happen. And as happens, the dream started small and morphed into something huge.

I started to think what a perfect job it would be to work as a merchandiser in an old-timey candy store. The type that has pastel coloured candy sticks and large swirled lollipops; whips of red licorice and brightly coloured pastilles; jar after jar of jelly beans and; intricately molded chocolate figures and exquisitely rolled truffles. How satisfying it would be to place gleaming glass vessels in a cluster and fill them with temptingly coloured and flavoured treats.



From there, the dream start to become a little all consuming. I imagined being the one to source all these beautiful candies. Look at these beautifully coloured and rolled lollipops from Hammond's candy. Aren't they beautiful?



Or imagine, maybe even being the creator of some myself. I would love to have a reason, after all, to invest in sets of giant copper pots and bowls. Think how incredible it would be to shop for all those wonderful glass vessels and trays that would look pretty all arranged together. Funny how every daydream eventually comes back around to me shopping.

And of course there is the chocolate. I have been spoiled since visiting Belgium just over a year ago. There is no such thing as a poorly arranged chocolate shop in Belgium. Every single morsel on display is a work of art, and such care goes into displaying the beautiful edibles. Here is a photo I took of chocolates made and displayed to look like bowls of olives:



Look at this window display. Notice the care that has gone into wrapping and decorating the boxes for gifting.



There is so much fodder for imagination when it comes to candy. Candy makes people happy whether remembering the treats that your grandmother would allow you to sneak from the lidded bowl on the coffee table, or childhood Easter egg hunts. The sweetness of candy comes from much more than just the sugar content, after all.