Centuries-old chocolatier opens in UTC mall

There’s a new sweet spot in The Mall at University Town Center, outside Saks Fifth Avenue. Bissinger’s Handcrafted Chocolatier began welcoming customers June 11 in a space across from the Apple store.

Founded in 1668 in Paris, Bissinger’s once counted King Louis XIV and Napoleon Bonaparte among its fans, according to the company. In the 19th century, a member of the Bissinger family moved to the United States, and the chocolatier now has its headquarters in St. Louis.

There are just 11 Bissinger’s Handcrafted Chocolatier retail boutiques nationwide, including three others in Florida: in Tampa, Key Biscayne and inside The Ritz-Carlton in Palm Beach. A location in Boca Raton is coming soon.

“We wanted to really focus on Florida for our primary retail expansion,” Bissinger’s Chief Chocolate Officer Dan Abel Jr. says in an email to the Business Observer.

The Tampa store is outside Neiman Marcus on the first floor of International Plaza Mall, where it opened in March.

“The landlord at International Plaza also suggested we take a look at UTC Mall, so after a site visit to Tampa, we stopped by UTC — and after I was at the mall for 10 minutes, I told them this will be our next location,” Abel says in an email, in response to a question about why the chocolatier chose UTC.

“The 'jewelry box' style of the retail store spoke to me,” Abel says. “I was with my brother, and he said we need to be in this mall. It is so new, clean, well-lit and the location next to Apple and Saks worked out perfectly.”

Bissinger’s Handcrafted Chocolatier has an 800-square-foot store on the main level in the UTC mall. There, customers “can hand-select their own assortment of chocolates from our candy case as well as explore our core and seasonal offerings,” Abel says.

Photo by Suzanne Clements

The business is a “big gifting company,” Abel says, noting it offers gifts for holidays like Valentine’s Day, anniversaries, birthdays, Christmas, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, graduation, Easter and more.

It has seasonal collections, too, like chocolate-covered raspberries in July and blackberries in September, that Abel says give people a reason to visit the store.

“We also encourage our team to reach out into the community and work with other partners,” Abel adds, “whether it is corporate gifting or working with local tourist attractions for wholesale.”