A history of Gourlay's Sweet Shop in Launceston | January 2025 | The Examiner - video Dailymotion

Owner Mike Wood tells the story of Gourlay's, a Launceston sweet shop dating back to 1896. Video by Phillip Biggs

Transcript

00:00I'm Michael Wood, my wife Anita and I own Goulet Sweets.

00:08Goulet Sweets was started in 1896 by a Scottish gentleman, William Johnson Goulet, who immigrated

00:16to Australia from Scotland, and that's where most of our recipes come from for our boiled

00:22sweets.

00:23He ended up in Launceston, first opened his shop in number 80 Elizabeth Street.

00:30In underneath the shop floor is actually where he manufactured his sweets, and at the time

00:37in Launceston there was about eight little confectioners just all making their sweets.

00:44You didn't have the big factories like Cadbury's and all those, and over a period of time a

00:51lot of those closed down, and eventually we'll move the factory and the shop, relocated

00:58in Brisbane Street opposite the Majestic Theatre where people could buy their sweets from the

01:08shop and then go back to the theatre.

01:11It came down to his grandsons, and then in 1970 there wasn't anyone who wished to keep

01:18the business going, and so they sold it to mum and dad.

01:22I came into the business in 1989, started to make the sweets for dad.

01:27The factory was eventually relocated to Penny Royal Complex where we set up demonstrations,

01:34and now the factory's been relocated in the Door of Hope Complex, the old Coates Payton,

01:42and this is where we manufacture our sweets for our shop which is still in the Quadrant

01:46Mall.