In the
second expansion of a Junction business into the downtown core in a month,
Delight chocolates opened a second location at 805 Queen Street West on March 26.
Delight moved into the space previously occupied by the Spice Trader and Olive Pit. The hand-made, organic, fair-trade chocolate shop, which started up years ago principally as a wholesaler and special order outfit is actually getting back to its roots. Jennifer Rashleigh, half of the husband-and-wife ownership team, used to own Citron restaurant on the Queen West strip, and husband Jeff Brown once worked both there and at
The Paddock.
"We were both very familiar with the neighbourhood," says Brown, "and always wanted to return and offer what we're currently doing."
Unlike the Junction location, where the chocolate and ice cream is actually made, the 400 square foot space will be purely retail. "We started out as a wholesaler," Brown says, "but now the bulk of our business is retail out of the Junction. That's where we saw our business growing the most, which is why we decided to have another location that focused just on the retail."
The new store, which required hiring three new employees, needed minimal renovation work, limited to some plastering, painting and minor floor repairs.
Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Jeff Brown
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