Should a sweet shop give away sweets for free at Halloween?

[Balletcab]

I wanted to pose a question and see what your thoughts are on this.
If you were taking you child out trick or treating today, would you march into a small independent sweet/ice cream shop that you have never been into before and demand that the owner high fives your child and then gives your child free sweets? And then when the owner explains they are a small business and giving sweets away for free isn’t a very affordable thing for a small business to do, would you get angry and berate the owner for not giving sweets to your child for free?
I am the small business and margins are very tight. I can’t afford to give away sweets to every child who comes in dressed up at Halloween.
This happened today and the parent made me feel awful for not handing out free stuff. Would they approach Tesco and ask the same? Would they give away things from their work or business for free if I marched up to them dressed as a pumpkin?
What do you think?

The OP has never stated that she sells loose, unwrapped sweets.

A local shop in the town where I live sells imported candy - you would not find their merchandise in any supermarket - and sets out their stall at the pre Halloween event I described upthread. It's a huge success for them - they give away little bags of their best selling candy to their core customer base, families with children.

If the OP sells unusual merchandise that isn't available in supermarkets, she could prepare small bags with loose candy (if that's what she sells) or offer other best selling items, or a Halloween surprise bag. Perhaps to the first fifty customers, and perhaps the weekend before.

You catch more flies with honey than vinegar after all.

I agree she was a CF, and set a terrible example for her child. She also missed the spirit of Halloween - it's supposed to be a friendly, neighbourly evening.

If local British chambers of commerce are not boosting local businesses by organizing the sort of events that grease the wheels of local, independent businesses in cities and suburbs across the US, they really only have themselves to blame when high streets turn into shuttered wastelands.

Some people are utterly batshit.

My office is in a converted house (large Georgian townhouse over 3 floors with a separate business on each floor). It’s on the main street in our small town in a row of 6 similar buildings, none of which are residential.

A few years ago at 4.30pm on Halloween there was a knock on the door which my colleague opened, expecting a client. There stood two mums and half a dozen kids loudly proclaiming “Trick or Treat”.

My colleague explained that it was an office and we didn’t have any sweets. One of the mum’s asked why we couldn’t just give them some biscuits from the office supply!

When she was told that wasn’t possible the mum called my colleague a “Tight arsed bitch” and stomped off with the kids in tow!

Should, should, should. No. It's her business. She has tight margins and there'd be loads of kids wanting free sweets from her. Halloween is for trick or treat in neighbourhoods, not amongst businesses.

Most sweet shops here sell loose gummies and some wrapped sweets but buying those for trick or treaters would be much more expensive than going to M&S or Sainsbury’s and buying the bulk packs of Cadbury’s, Mars Bars or individual packets of gummies. Most independent sweet shops that I’ve encountered don’t sell bulk packs as the supermarkets do. I’ve used independent sweets shops on Halloween before to make up little treat bags for friends’ children but it’d cost a not so small fortune to do that for an unknown and potentially high number of trick or treaters.

Nobody dresses up and goes out at Halloween looking for art or small gift items at houses displaying a pumpkin.

Again you live in the USA the Op lives in the UK
If its the type of shop im thinking of it will be styled as a traditional sweet shop they have become quite popular in the last ten years or so and sell traditional British sweets and are usually very small.

Seems odd, you aren't in an shopping area advertising a trick or treat trail are you? As shops taking part in those give out free sweets to anyone who turns up in fancy dress.

If you are one of the shops in the area but not taking part I could understand why someone would come and ask not realising.

If you sell strawberry whips (the long red chewy ones) then I'll buy your stock worth OP as a Halloween treat!

In all seriousness (I would) the person who came into your shop is obviously extremely unreasonable and I can only assume they will enjoy the shame face embarrassment when she inevitably relays this to others and gets laughed at for her sheer audacity and disgusting behaviour.

You do not owe anyone anything unless they have paid for it. She owes you one big apology.

What works for one business doesn’t necessarily work for another. I’m sure that the OP as a business owner can decide what works for her particular sweet shop. And it may not be what you think is right for her.

Wee reminder Halloween was a UK thing hundreds of years ago with a neep lantern to ward off evil spirits( particular to Scotland and Northern England.

Sod all to do with pumpkins and "candy" you keep banging on about.

Did they demand or jokingly suggest? (Not me btw😅)

Most people will be buying from the supermarket or B&M type places that do cheap variety bags.
If the OP can't afford to give stuff away, then she can't afford it; she shouldn't be strong-armed into it by pushy gobshite parents and people on the internet who have no idea of her situation.

No demanding freebies and not buying anything is not on.
However a nearby town does do a shop Halloween trail where participating shops do give something if kids pop in and say happy Halloween. Are you sure nothing like that was happening where you live?
Likewise there are some cafes and independent businesses in the town I live in that give out sweets, generally with purchases however.
As others say they do it to draw people in.

As a (presumably) British poster has mentioned a trick or treat trail and another has mentioned an ice cream shop that has exactly the sort of idea I am talking about, I assume you're letting some weird feeling about the US cloud your judgement here.

If her situation is so dire that she isn't making money hand over fist at Halloween, she needs to rethink how she's doing business.

Isn’t trick or treating for residential houses ?

Phew, am so glad your OP explained you were the shop owner, as I would NEVER have deduced that from your totally unbiased post

Oh dear.

We all had outside lavatories back then, if we were lucky, and children were sent to work as chimney sweeps.

Yes one place in mablethorpe
I have no weird feelings about the USA
But it is a very different place to the UK and they have their own traditions .

Marketing budget - what local independent sweet shop has a marketing budget?

If you want something from a shop you pay the advertised price.

If you were hungry and knocked on her door and asked that she gives you a dinner , do you think she would ?
The answer is no , and I think I would have been telling her it's a good thing her child is in the shop with her as you'd have a few choice words to say to her if a child wasn't in the vicinity !

Again most people do not buy their sweets from sweet shops so I would not expect it to be a particularly profitable holiday for sweet shops unlike Christmas where people are perhaps more willing to spend money to buy something unusual that is harder to find in the supermarkets, on loved ones.

That said American friends and influencers I’ve seen online seem to source most of their candy from Walmart or Sam’s Club or similar. Not independent stores though undoubtedly some do, and those in the US look larger and seem to have larger bags of well known candies than you’d expect in the UK.

Its a small sweet shop what part of small sweet shop with tight margins are you not getting?
Yes i know everthing is so much better ( according to you) in the USA but shes under no obligation to give away any of her stock.

Are you deliberately trying to wind people up?