HISTORY – temptations fine candies / temptations fine chocolate.
the name / recipes / business of temptations fine candies – has been making iowa a sweeter place for over 30 years. the original 1981 production and retail was located in grimes iowa, with the addition of a retail store in downtown ames. in 1998, the grimes production and retail business was sold and relocated to atkins, iowa. atkins is a small town in benton county – about 15 miles west of cedar rapids. the ames retail continued to operate under the name: temptations fine chocolate – but has since closed.
in the spring of 2004, we bought the temptations fine candies business in atkins. production and retail were operated together at the atkins location until the fall of 2005 – when we opened a retail store at 1026 7th avenue in marion, iowa. we continued to create the chocolate in atkins – making daily deliveries to our uptown marion retail location.
in 2010, we bought a building two blocks east of our retail store in the historic shopping district of uptown marion. an extensive renovation of the pre-1900 building at 1244 7th avenue was completed in the fall of 2011 and both the production and retail were “reunited” in the same building.
NAME CHANGE – THE chocolate SHOP
it was at this time that we changed our name to: THE chocolate SHOP — because that is what everyone calls us. though the name has changed, the ingredients and recipes for the toffee / caramel / truffles / nut clusters and creams have remained the same for over three decades. it is – after all – “what’s on the inside that counts”.
