Sweet Shop Has New Island Location
By Sean Ely

Manager and co-owner Tony Brodeur at Martha's Sweet Shop says his cinnamon rolls are still his most popular item, and visitors return each summer for more.

Just because Martha's Sweet Shop changed its location to the Horse Corral Mall on May 12 does not mean the menu items and ingredients got left behind. In fact, not only will Tony Brodeur, manager of the shop, keep the same recipes which have been featured for the past 20 years, he has added some Mexican items to the mix, but will continue to offer late night pizza and sandwiches that have been popular for the past couple of years.

The menu now includes tacos, quesadillas, and burritos to go along with the pizza, sandwiches, muffins, icecream, and the most popular item, its cinnamon rolls, which Martha's Sweet Shop is known for.

"People come back every summer because they remember the cinnamon rolls," Mr. Brodeur said. "The pizza was started by the previous owner, only a couple years ago, but that wasn't one of the historic Martha's items. But the cinnamon rolls have been around forever. I remember I would come in and get one when I was eight years old and they were a dollar. People come back and say, 'Oh, those are the ones.'"

Mr. Brodeur, who owns the shop with Loretta Spata, changed locations so he would have more room.

"We had a good feeling later on in the summer last year that we were going to move," Mr. Brodeur said. "Now we have more seating and more doors, which empties out into the mall. Plus, people can come in through a couple different places, as well. There is just more space in general. At the old building, when it got really busy, people would got to the screen door and our ice cream counter was right there and people wouldn't want to open the door because there would be people standing right there, looking at the different flavors. Plus, there were only six seats there, and now we have more than 20."

Being in the Horse Corral Mall also brings in shoppers from the other stores.

"It is nice being in the mall," he said, "because now we have more neighbors, so it works out well for them and us. There's just more foot traffic moving through the area."

Once the schools across the state recess for the summer, Mr. Brodeur will hire three fulltime and five part-time employees.

The shop started staying open later Wednesday, June 6. He assumes his large pizza slices and sandwiches will sell quite well, especially because many of the bars stop selling food somewhat early, so people can still come over and grab something to eat.

"It's good to have these items later in the day, because people are going to want something else besides muffins or bakery goods," Mr. Brodeur said. "That's how I am, at least."

He likes the friendly atmosphere of a bakery better than his old job in a bank.

"It's a whole lot different than banking, because 99% of the time when people come in here, they're happy, because it's all about ice-cream, sweets, and pizza. That makes it a better environment. The emotions of people are important to me. I like serving the student groups that come here in May for their ice-cream breaks in the afternoon, and watching them trying to decide which flavor they are going to order."

Employee Sarah Daniels can't see herself working for anybody but Mr. Brodeur at the moment.

"I like Tony because you can't get a boss like him anywhere else," she said.

For something special at the bakery counter, she recommends the pumpkin muffin.