Godiva is closing or selling all of its stores in the United States

[Omaha Steve]

Source: CNN

By Alexis Benveniste

New York (CNN Business)Luxury chocolatier Godiva is getting out of the brick and mortar business.

The company is closing or selling all 128 of its brick-and-mortar stores in North America, it announced in a statement. It plans to complete the closures and sales by the end of March.

Godiva will keep its stores open across Europe, Middle East and Greater China. The company did not disclose information on how many employees would be let go because of the closures.

Less than two years ago, Godiva was planning a massive expansion by getting into the cafe business. The chocolatier opened its first cafe in the United States in New York City in April 2019 and announced that it planned on opening 10 more cafes in New York and more than 400 across the United States. It was part of a plan to open 2,000 new cafes around the world.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/24/business/godiva-closing-us-stores/index.html

[bamagal62]

1. I keep getting this post is blocked.

[left-of-center2012]

2. I don't think I have ever seen a Godiva store

Before the pandemic I saw a lot of Sees (?) candy stores

[Johnny Noshoes]

3. There was one

There was one at the 45th street entrance of the MetLife building in Manhattan. The pandemic shut it down like most stores.

[Politicub]

31. I've seen one in a shopping mall. They were handing out free samples

of chocolate-dipped strawberries.

[bamagal62]

4. So, I'll try again.

Godiva sold out. I used to love Godiva. Several years ago, I noticed that US chocolate tasted awful, like wax. So, I googled “why does US chocolate taste like wax?”. What I discovered was that Hershey lobbied to changed the requirement for what could be called chocolate by changing the ratio of chocolate to oil. Godiva sold out and their chocolate changed to taste like the waxy chocolate of Hershey. I will only buy imported Swiss or Belgian chocolates now. All the US manufactured chocolate tastes like crap. I’m glad they are feeling it. They should have not gone for profit over quality.

[SunSeeker]

13. Yup, Godiva isn't what it used to be. See's is waxy crap too.

But Belgian, Swiss and even German milk chocolate still has that heavely creamy texture. If you're going to get fat eating chocolate, you should at least enjoy it! American chocolate is not worth the calories.

[eggplant]

15. Cadbury in the US is actually Hershey.

And thus it tastes like crap. Hershey licensed the brand. Cadbury UK is still wonderful, but because of licensing, Hershey has cracked down on businesses importing and selling Cadbury UK products.

Canadian Cadbury isn't as good as Cabbury UK, but is still loads better than Hershey.

Which reminds me, I need to order some more UK-made Wispa bars on Amazon. Be careful -- they come in two sizes and the listings aren't always careful about getting the sizes correct.

[catchnrelease]

25. Agree 100%!

Last edited Mon Jan 25, 2021, 04:36 AM - Edit history (1)

I LOVE Cadbury caramel--bars and eggs--and they suck in the US. In 2019 I went to the UK and before I came home I stuffed my bags with the REAL thing! They are sadly long gone now, but a delicious memory.

Can you get the UK made Cadbury on Amazon?

[mwooldri]

29. Why I often buy Cadbury in Canada and never in US.

As a truck driver, I do get to go into Canada once in a while. I "smuggle" the Dairy Milk, Fruit & Nut, and Crunchie bars. I like Aero too (yes it's a Nestle was Rowntree brand) as I don't see them in the US.

Cadbury do localise the flavour of their Dairy Milk chocolate and yeah the Hershey's made Cadbury is horrible - tastes like a Hershey's chocolate.

[electric_blue68]

26. I thought no I remember that fight...

Cocoa solids v oil ? a good some years back.

[Judi Lynn]

28. Wax chocolate is such an insult! If we were right-wingers, we could say it's "Un-American."

[bucolic_frolic]

5. I'll take Lindt, as well as local chocolatiers Made in U.S.A. anyday

Godiva? eh.

[bamagal62]

18. Lindt is not bad. But, it also seems to have changed a bit.

[oasis]

33. Lindt. Mmmmmm.

[AllaN01Bear]

6. never heard of this outfit untill now .

[Hekate]

7. I love See's most of all, but that may be a regional thing. My sis fell for Godiva decades ago...

She would buy, like, one overpriced piece to savor.

How will people get their chocolate fix?

[SunSeeker]

14. Lindt is excellent Swiss chocolate, and readily available in ever grocery or drug store.

Much of the chocolate Lindt sells in the US is made in the US, but they follow their Swiss recipe.

However, for die-hard chocophiles, only milk chocolate made with Swiss dairy milk truly has that amazing Swiss milk chocolate creamy richness. American milk is too watery.

[Frerotte]

8. Belgium Chocolate

Last edited Mon Jan 25, 2021, 12:23 PM - Edit history (1)

I visited Belgium a couple years ago and the chocolate I had was simply amazing.

No comparison to the stuff we have here. I can only eat the good stuff now (for the most part).

Except I am partial to any kind of chocolate mixed with peanut butter. One of my vices.

[bamagal62]

16. A lot of the chocolate that Trader Joe's carries is Belgium and it's delicious.

[bamagal62]

19. Yep. I'm a chocolate snob. Belgium for me!

[sandensea]

23. Pour moi aussi!

Mais pas trop, hein?

[lapucelle]

9. I remember the shop on 5th Avenue back in the 70's...

... I was an impoverished college student with my nose pressed against the window.

[bamagal62]

20. When I was pregnant in Hong Kong

In the late 90s, I craved Godiva. Going to get Godiva chocolates in HK at that time was a delicacy. I won’t even touch the stuff now.

[SergeStorms]

10. I always preferred Ghirardelli to Godiva.

So there's nothing for me to be upset about. Just about any chocolate will do really, but I won't touch chocolate with palm oil in it. The amount of natural habitat being destroyed for Orangutans by palm oil producers is criminal.

[VWolf]

11. They offered great chocolate covered strawberries. The only catch ...

$5 EACH!

[BlueCanine]

24. Driscoll's Strawberries at the Santa Cruz Boardwalk

Chocolate covered long stemmed and available year round. The Driscoll research and development plots in Watsonville south of Santa Cruz CA grows some of the best berries in California. I had the pleasure of being gifted many trays of their multiple verities of berries back in the day when I contracted at the Seascape Resort in Aptos CA. The resort hosts Driscoll meetings that always have plenty of their current and future berry offerings and they always left their excess product from those meetings for the resort employees to enjoy.

Good grub back then. I highly recommend the Seascape Resort for a Santa Cruz getaway if you're in the area. https://www.seascaperesort.com/

This isn't spam, it's a great North Cal destination.

[MR. ELECTABLE]

12. Luxury prices for mass market ingredients

Maybe it's different in Europe but the Godiva chocolates sold here in the US are basically upscale Hershey's. Ingredients in a bar I was gifted last year included soy lecithin and corn syrup (which causes it to be marked in CA as GMO) as well as palm oil.

[bamagal62]

17. Like I said, it's crap. It's all because Hershey got the standards changed here.

Before that, there had to be a certain percentage of cocoa for it to be labeled chocolate. Hershey got that changed because putting the required amount of chocolate in their products cut into their profits. Now they can add more oil. So the ratio is different. It’s like watered down chocolate. But, they have not changed that standard in Europe.

[onetexan]

21. Never understood the appeal of Godiva. I get german, austrian & belgian

Chocolates from aldi's . Theyre cheap & delicious. American chocolates are pasty tasting.

[dalton99a]

34. +1. Aldi has the best value.

Just great stuff without the gold plating and bullshit

[a la izquierda]

22. Tony's Chocolonely

It’s a Dutch company and the chocolate is amazing https://tonyschocolonely.com/us/en

[electric_blue68]

27. While they can be more expensive there are...

a bunch of more artisanal, or smaller batch USA chocolate bars here in NYC.

Now I'm a 72%+ dark chocolate person so I can't tell you anything about milk chocolate.

[cagefreesoylentgreen]

30. Ritter Sport

There’s a specialty store near me that sells Ritter Sport bars, with flavors that aren’t at Target. Like chocolate and cornflakes, marzipan, truffle, etc. I stock up every other month or so.

Never got the appeal of Godiva, always seemed overrated.

[maxrandb]

32. Theo Chocolate in Seattle for me

Loved touring the production plant when my daughter was at UW.