Mum absolutely staggered at cost of pick and mix at Christmas market
A mum has branded the price of a £22 bag of pick and mix as an ‘absolute joke’.
Emma Gill decided to treat her children to a bag of sweets at a Christmas market in Manchester before going to the cinema to see the new Wonka film.
But the mum-of-two said she was staggered’ when the price of the haul came to nearly as much as the film tickets.
Emma, from Chadderton, Greater Manchester, said: ‘I knew the stalls at Manchester’s Christmas Markets would be expensive.
‘It’s a premium location and everyone knows you don’t come away from the markets feeling flush.
‘Cinema pick and mix prices aren’t exactly cheap, so I didn’t think the difference would be too much.
‘But I was staggered when the bag got weighed and it came to £21.89. Almost the same price as our three cinema tickets.
‘Admittedly they got quite a few sweets – including a few big ones like two jelly snakes – but there’s no way you would expect to pay almost £22.’
Emma took her children to the Kingdom of Sweets stall before heading into the Vue cinema in Printworks on Saturday.
She said the cost ‘soon adds up’, despite a sign informing customers the price is £2.99 per 100g.
The price of the pick and mix inside the Vue was almost half the price, at £1.59 per 100g.
Emma added: ‘We do usually take our own sweets to the cinema, but I thought it would make a nice Christmas treat. I won’t be making that mistake again.’
She said a 175g of Haribo could be bought in Tesco for £1.25, which would be ‘a damn site cheaper’.
After counting the number of sweets in the bag Emma found there were 98, meaning an average of 22p per sweet.
Manchester City Council said it is not involved with stall pricing, adding ‘nor could we as we don’t know the costs involved in producing the goods on sale’.
Councillor Pat Karney, Manchester City Council’s Christmas spokesperson, said: ‘Whilst we’ll always check out any complaints that are brought to us, it’s down to individual traders to set their own prices that reflect their overheads and the quality of what’s on offer.
‘Stallholders are however obviously subject to the same market forces as other retailers in that if what they’re selling is too expensive, customers won’t buy their products.’
A spokesperson from Kingdom of Sweets previously said: ‘Our prices are clearly displayed per 100g and are comparable with other premium location retailers.
‘Staff are trained to allow customers to leave the purchase if their selection is too heavy or take some out to bring the price down.’
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