Good News for Chocolate Lovers

The Anna Shea Chocolates store, a familiar sight for many years on South Washington Street in Tarrytown, is gone. But chocolate lovers can buy the chocolates it became known for through the Internet.

The store, operated by Anna Shea and her husband Tim, offered a broad selection of colorfully hand-decorated chocolates made by Anna. Customers could taste before buying; a policy that helped speed the business's success. 

The chocolates, although expensive, became popular as a gift choice. "They weren't Hersey bars," said Tim Shea.

Anna was born and raised in Kouvola, a small city in Finland. She arrived in America ten years ago at the age of nineteen and worked for a year as an au pair.

"I had no idea what I wanted to do other than seeing the world," Anna said, "but I decided to study psychology full time and to help defray collage costs, I took a sales job after school at a chocolate shop in Mount Kisco. That's how I came to fall in love with chocolates."          

A trip to Paris, France followed where she attended a chocolate-making school. She returned to America and put her newly acquired skills to work. With husband Tim, who she met while working as a mother's helper, she opened the Tarrytown store in October 2004.

Her early success was attributed to her ability to combine the blending of flavors and use of spices such as cinnamon, ginger and cloves with her skill as an air brush artist. 

Adversity soon followed when a fire shut the store down for several months but once back in business, she and Tim added gifts to their product line, opened a second store in Katonah, set up a chocolate factory, started a website sales business and found additional outlets for the chocolates. Favorable articles appeared about her creations in Reader's Digest, Time Out New York and The Journal News.

Best sellers included "My Precious" cinnamon caramels, almond toffee, dark chocolate ganache with sea salt, chocolate covered popcorn and a 12-piece box of assorted chocolates that sells today for $24. 

The recession hit the business hard. The Katonah store closed and subsequently the Tarrytown store went out of business. Web and outlet sales plunged and the chocolate factory in New Rochelle was shut down. The strain was too much for the marriage; Anna and Tim were divorced and she moved into an apartment in Sleepy Hollow.

Debra Jenrette, Tim's aunt, offered to restart the business in a new upscale shopping mall opening in September 2008 in the Chicago suburbs. Anna and Tim worked together to make the transition and Anna shipped her chocolate-factory equipment to the Midwest.

Anna Shea Chocolates & Lounge was opened by Jenrette and the Shea's in The Arboretum of South Barrington; light food and desserts were added to the fare offered by the chocolate shop. Last August, both the restaurant and the factory were expanded. The store has a wine bar, fireplace and a party room. Tours of the factory and chocolate-making demonstrations are conducted regularly.

Neither of the two daring young entrepreneurs are currently active in the running of the company. Anna has returned to Finland for the time being and Tim is pursuing a new career as a software engineer.

Yet, the confectioneries can be bought via the Anna Shea Chocolates website or at their closest outlet, the Rye Golf Club in Rye, New York. More local outlets are being sought; interested parties can contact Jenrette.

The twelve-piece signature box, available for website purchase, contains the following favorites: My Precious, Heart of the Ocean, Madagascar, Hanna Pauliina, Cherry Baby, Vadelma, Milk Chocolate Ganache with Crushed Caramel, Strawberry Fields Forever, Vanilla Mocha, Hazelnut, Passion and Scott's Peanut Butter. It sells for $24.

"Without Anna's creative mind and brilliant aptitude for combining flavors and Tim's marketing savvy, there would not be an Anna Shea Chocolates," said Jenrette.  "I thank them for trusting me with their company."

Anna Shea Chocolates and Lounge is located at 100 W. Higgins Road, South Barrington, IL 60010, 847-428-5446. www.annasheachocolates.com.