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A sweet little spot in the Capital City
A Little Confection makes the move from Laconia
By Linda A. Thompson-Odum food@hippopress.com
Audrey Little has serendipity to thank for her current career path. A chance meeting at a laundromat opened the door for her to the world of candy creation and her ownership of A. Little Confection, which recently moved from Laconia to Main Street in Concord.
Little worked in the marketing field and as a branch manager for a large food company before she took a break for the birth of her daughter. She had just returned to the workforce as a laundromat manager when she was approached by a customer who needed a manager for the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory in Laconia. A career was born.
“I loved what I was doing,” Little said. “I got to play and practice in the chocolate. You get to drizzle and make a mess. You’re like a little kid.”
After eight years with Rocky Mountain, Little decided to open her own shop in Laconia. On a recent trip to Concord, she was impressed by the improvements the city has made to its downtown area in the past 10 years, so she decided to move her shop south.
“The downtown merchants were welcoming and friendly,” she said. “I had heard good things about this building’s landlord and the location right across from the Statehouse. Everything combined made it an attractive place to move to.”
A. Little Confections has a generous assortment of chocolates and candies — truffles, fudge, dipped and molded chocolates, divinity and sugar-free chocolates. As of now, 85 percent of the chocolates are made in-house, and the plan is to reach 100 percent soon. The staff is always happy to give customers a sample. Little said the fudge — in about any flavor imaginable — and the giant peanut butter cups are customer favorites. And there are dipped items available, such as chocolate-dipped Twinkies. “We’ll dip just about anything,” she said.
The shop’s signature items are the caramel apples. Little said she has approximately 150 varieties that she makes throughout the year, with 10 to 15 types available each day. The most popular one right now is the Apple Pie on a Stick — a Granny Smith apple dipped in caramel and white chocolate, and then rolled in brown sugar and cinnamon. Runner-up in popularity is The Explosion — an apple dipped in caramel, white chocolate and peanut butter, and then rolled in chocolate chips, drizzled with milk and white chocolates, and rolled in peanuts.
“We had a little boy in here yesterday with his mother,” Little said. “He saw the apples in the case and said, ‘Momma, I want that one.’ Then he saw a different one and said, ‘Momma, I want that one.’ He kept going from flavor to flavor. We kept laughing because he couldn’t figure out what he wanted.”
The shop also sells a large variety of cookies — small ones for now, but soon to grow to the larger 5-ounce size. Also available is Lavazza Italian coffee. “I feel the Italians have the market for really rich coffees,” Little said.
The candy cases will begin to feature some special items for the upcoming holidays, and Little will ship your gift purchase to a recipient. (Customers will also be able to place orders online.) She plans to offer the honey-almond nougat candies made popular by the book The Polar Express, complete with a bell tied on.
Little relishes “the smiles on people’s faces when they round the corner and see our products. Topmost on our list of priorities is customer service and quality. We’ll give you a sample and a smile, and answer any questions. A visit here will be an experience you won’t forget. And you’ll laugh a lot, too.”
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