Is soooo glad I have found somewhere to buy sweets from jars. But the proper old sweets that are…read morethe best when sold per 100g in little paper bags!! I was so excited when I finally found this little shop after wandering around the time zone that is Afflecks Palace. This place sells all the favs from dip daps, nerds and wham bars to 10 flavours of bon bons, midget gems, pineapple cubes, lager tops and so on and on and on and on..... all priced at 75p per 100g! They should change the saying from "cheap as chips" to "chip as the sweets in Retro Sweets in Afflecks Palace". A big surprise was the selection of Wonka sweets available. I have only ever seen a few varieties in Selfridges but this was just simply amazing! I can't even remember the names of them there were so many! We came away with a bag full of sweets for only £4 and were well happy! :) Shall be my new fav sugar haven.

Sweet Sensations brings up that nostalgia in me that makes me long for the days when I would buy a…read more20p bag of sweets in a small paper bag on my way home from school. Honestly, those days did once exist. And they were brilliant, let me tell you. We're talking bon bons, liquorice, chocolate buttons and far more besides. I love all of those things. They also sell a range of drinks, crisps and chocolates that are more like the regular confectionary you find nowadays. Sweet Sensations is located in the bustling food hall in the Arndale Centre.

lovely shoppe with nice people fabulous sweet trees and candy gifts…read moreamerican candy / sweet buffets / olde fashioned penny lines / weigh out jars with all your olde favourites

woman behind the till is unbelievably rude and called me a bitch. I cannot believe she has a job…read morecustomer facing.

the worse encounter with the lady and the man that work in there. I had 2 parcels to drop off and…read morethe lady was extremely rude and patronising. her friend was on the side flirting with the tall ginger arndale security guard with all the tatoos (known for flirting with girls all around the shopping centre). she was rushing me and complained that she had a queue and I ignored it and she preceded to try and embarrass me infant of everyone in the store. I then complained after holding my tongue that her customer service was awful and she was extremely insulting and mean. It was my first time delivering a parcel there and she was extremely unhelpful and said to me "I don't know how to do it, I don't order online". as the man tried to help me she kept looking to the side to the woman who apparently didn't work there and the security guard that were huddled up together on the side saying "horrible" "just horrible" eveytime I would speak referring to the comment I made about her customer service. I then left and forgot my phone, when I came back to get it the man was talking to a customer and stopped as I was leaving to shout across the store "YOU'RE WELCOME, TALK ABOUT F***ING MANNERS". I left in tears. Inpost customer service were extremely sympathetic and apologetic and sorted new labels for me to post my parcels elsewhere as over the rainbow staff snatched the stickers out of my hand. Inpost should remove their service from that shop as they are awful in there. I left in tears having to calm myself down without having returned my parcels. will never e back, nobody should do business with them or buy from their store. I'll be telling everyone I know. Having worked in customer service and a frequent shopper I have never seen such awful and nasty service and ambiance!

I lurrveee sweets. Remember in Keenan and Kel where Kel luurrvveedd Orange Soda? Well picture me…read moredoing that with sweets! I think everyone loves sweets and who wouldn't. So when I stumbled across this little bad boy, I could not help but invite myself in. And o my word! Sweet heaven. The shop looks so small from the outset but inside there is sweets everywhere and they are all in the little tubs and proper old fashioned. They have measuring scales and everything and paper bags! I love it. Of course they have chocolate too and a wide selection, I think I got a Wonka bar from here and you can probably imagined I was in my element. Sadly there was no golden ticket for me! :( But still, a great shop and an old fashioned shop/

I left this as feedback on the hotel chocolat website. They didn't allow it on their website which…read moresays all you need to know about them. I bring you to their '100% happiness guarantee'; it's a lie. I am now posting exactly the same review here, on my social media accounts, on my NHS work notice board (where I work), the library and other places. Policing people's reviews is the snakes that run this company. Hi Hotel Chocolat, It is upsetting to write this. After researching the velvetiser for a few weeks, and reading almost but almost wow'ing unreal reviews, I was thoroughly underwhelmed by mine. The product is more of a phenomenal marketing exercise than a stand alone great product. Yes I know the vast number of reviews are ecstatic, but then againpeople are ecstatic about watching QVC all day long. I really do not know what to say without sounding too rude, but it simply is not very good at what is meant to be very good at. The drink product is neither frothy or luxurious (a word your website is rampant with), and nowhere near decadent. My first warning bell was the use of the term barista grade. This means nothing. I have tried many hot chocolates around the world, the barista grade ones are usually the worst, average at best. The ones made by grannies in a lovely apron, just before bed, are the best. I am sure Hotel Chocolat has a firm fan base (we should note here so do the Kardashians) and loyal staff so I do not wish to provoke any hostile emotions from my email. I really don't want to, but I wish to return my order. It is an absolute shame. I was absolutely, thoroughly looking forward to the best hot chocolate I had ever tried. That's what you implicitly promised. To me, the product your machine produces is not that, nowhere near that. I have been a hot chocolate drinker ALL my life. As a grown male, I have NEVER tried a cup of tea or coffee. I drank hot chocolate when no one drank hot chocolate. The only other thing I drink is Horlicks (another grandma favourite). Now I want to come onto something which expands on the lack of ethicality. I wrote to the company asking how to return my package. This was their reply: "Thank you for contacting Hotel Chocolat. You have up to 28 days to return your unwanted items as long as you obtain proof of purchase and they are unopened/unused. Please let me know if I can assist you with anything else. Kind regards, Customer Happiness Team" I have deleted the name of the customer service responder. Naturally I asked them, I am not allowed to open the box at all, let alone try it? How am I meant to know if it is what I want? It's not cheap for what it is after all. But that's how they trap you, and trap you is what they want to do. The website goes on about 100% happiness guarantee. But there are no specifics. This is an intentional, unethical, omission. There is no time period for returns, there is no method for returns, there is nothing. This is what it says: 'All of your purchases are covered by our No Excuses Guarantee so if you're not 100% happy with our products or we miss an important delivery date, we guarantee that we'll immediately put it right for you - refunding, replacing or issuing you with a Gift Card as appropriate. In addition, we guarantee to make good any mistakes with honesty and a positive solution that works for you. We never want you to lose faith in Hotel Chocolat and will always go the extra mile so you know how important your custom is to us.' I have to say this is puffed up nonsense, in the true to form hotel chocolat way. They do not care about your happiness, nor putting things right. They only care about keeping your money. They are thieves in this regard. They make promises before sales they cannot keep after sales. Many will say this is true about all companies, but I would disagree. Many companies are trying their best to make a shift to more important customer services and management. This is what makes it more shameful that hotel chocolat promises the same but delivers the absolute opposite. A bit like their product. For example over Christmas the vast majority of stores allow extended returns and refunds. Refunds made to the gift recipient. For money. Hotel chocolat? Oh no. They don't do that. If you have received a gift, you can get a gift voucher for hotel chocolat. So that's basically £100 of gift vouchers (for a unwanted velvetiser) to spend in their shop. Where's that clearly stated in the 100% happiness guarantee? It isn't. Mine was a gift from my uncle. Luckily he can return it, but you should all be aware of that. And the company, if they were indeed ethical as they insist, would make sure you were aware of that. A two faced company? Definitely. Thieves? Given the less than mediocre product, absolutely. Here to help you? Not in the least. I just hope no one squanders their money, be promised 100% happy, and really get nothing. read the negative reviews, they are real.

Hotel Chocolat is a shop specializing in chocolate, in recent years they have grown, even coming…read moreclose to Thorntons, who was founded 77 years earlier, and also have a store in the Manchester Arndale, but Hotel Chocolat has a much more upper market, pricier vibe, it makes Thorntons look like ALDI, to its' Waitrose. Hotel Chocolat looks more of a high end store, instead of all being packed in, as it is in Thorntons, it is more spread out, with chocolate packages being smaller, and more expensive. here, you can't expect to get a sample of chocolate as often, as you would in Thorntons. In general, the packaging of chocolate is a lot smaller, and high end too with some cool varieties, but still for the price it doesn't reflect value for money, especially for me, and I'm not a big eater of chocolate in the first place. Chocolate is one of life's naturally gluten free products, and it is only when they go adding lots of rubbish to it (Thanks KitKat) or it is made in a factory that handles gluten (Thanks DairyMilk), it doesn't become gluten free. Most chocolate here will be fine, but I would always recommenced checking first. If your looking for a gift, this is a nice shop to go to, but still it isn't a place you would come, just to pick up chocolate for yourself as it is far too posh and pricey for that, and although it is a reasonable store, I just don't get the hype about expensive chocolate, if this was called Hotel Coffee, I'd probably score a lot more, therefore I feel I can only go to 2 stars.

After a disappointing trip to the Sweet Emporium I was further let down by Cadburys! Like Michael…read moreB, I also left without buying anything even though I actually got as far as the till, but as in Sweet Emporium they don't take cards for transactions under £5. What is this? 1995? Unacceptable. Ok so the main problems are: unexciting range, totally unbargainous prices. You can DEFINITELY do better in Tesco Express on chocolate deals. I know, because I buy chocolate in Tesco Express almost every day owing to Some Problems I Have With Sugar. Tesco Express isn't even a supermarket! Bear in mind also this is not a price for gifts, as Michael B also found - it is factory style so things are in very boring plastic bags. Lowry Outlet Mall betrayed me twice in one day. Never again shall I darken its doors.

Cadbury's is one of the biggest chocolatiers in the UK, hence I had big expectations for this…read morestore. It is located in the Manchester Lowry, a "shopping centre", I find simply a waste, and something bad in a really nice, modern area, this store is no different. Cadbury's shop, actually sells products, from companies other than Cadbury and most of the items here, including their own are far too overpriced. They do sell chocolate machines, and sort of toys for kids, but they don't seem sturdy enough to last long, and they are just a token, rather than a long lasting gift, and as far as I remember, they are pretty pricey too. " Cadbury Factory Shop " makes me think it would be a chocolate heaven, with chocolate, fresh, directly shipped from the factory, (which is a fantastic gift and can be bought online), although a little pricier, but this store isn't that, it just sells items from other companies (sweets etc) and overpriced Cadbury's souvenirs, whether it be chocolate or stupid, poor quality machines. Even though I'm not a chocolate lover, I do like Cadbury's as a company (some of their products anyway), I think they need to just stick to that, what they are good at, rather than ruin their profits and reputation by opening a poor store like this. Cadbury's need to leave sweet / chocolate stores to Mr Simms and selling their products to the supermarket giants and local newsagents, so I do feel this store deserves one star.