And a very first Happy Birthday to Chocolats Passion at 189 Brackett Street! 

The year exceeded our wildest expectations.  It started when we found out, very soon after opening, that the West End just longed for a chocolate shop. 189 Brackett is on the walking route of so many in the neighborhood, who stop at Rosemont or Fresh Approach for dinner provisions and then come in to get a little box for dessert that night.   And it seems that we have become a choice destination for hostess presents and gifts for "people who have everything".

The chocolate high holidays were predictably intensely busy, but what surprised us was the robustness of the summer season.  Visitors to the West End made stops, so thank you, dear Air bnb and B&B owners, for telling them about us!  We took off several weeks in July/early August, so regulars stocked up, supplied with freezing instructions, lest they go without their chocolate fix.  August was way busier than would have been reasonable to expect, with requests for hot chocolate even!  We promise it will return in October as the weather turns cool.

And for the first time, we dipped our toe in two chocolate competitions, where all three chocolates presented won a medal:  Pistachio Raspberry won a silver and Almond Citrus a Bronze in the Americas International Chocolate Awards, and Lime Habanero won a bronze in the Spicy Chocolate competition with the International Chocolate Salon.

This whole week, we are celebrating our milestone with little thank you gifts for all our regulars and new customers.  They will be able to choose from a little jar of Vegan Hazelnut Crème, a Nougat Mendiant Bite or a Maxwell Farm strawberry lemon cream chocolate.  We made those for all of you, who have been so supportive of our little chocolaterie, and invite you to celebrate with us in proper chocolate style!