Thursday, June 22, 2006

A sweet surprise for Patsy's Chocolates

The surprising return of the Stephany's Chocolates brand -- after its equally surprising departure -- may require a bit of fence-mending with its former wholesale customers.

Stephany's closed its Arvada plant and five Colorado stores in April after co-owner Hal Strotman died in April. Enstrom's Candies of Grand Junction bought Stephany's assets for $1.5 million and announced earlier this week that it intended to revive the Stephany's name in a largely wholesale effort.

"But there were some customers who were unhappy with the way the whole thing was handled," said Wes Niswonger, co owner of Patsy's Chocolates & Gift Shop in Manitou Springs. Some shop owners without warning, stopped getting candy deliveries to stock their stores.

Patsy's is one of the companies that is getting orders to fill the void from companies such as Making History Colorado, a retailer in Denver Pavilions.

“It’s hard to say how much impact it’s had," on Patsy's, Niswonger said. "I really don’t want to say how much. We have competitors up there now. And this is not even chocolate season yet."

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