It is with a heavy heart that I announce that Top This Chocolate will be closing just after Mother’s Day. I’m being given the boot. The landlord sent me a 30 day notice to vacate. Since November, I have been chugging along on a month to month lease and would have been happy to continue through the summer. However a Boba shop put in an application for my space. They will be taking over the suite in June. I knew this could happen but I didn’t think it was likely with all the other empty storefronts in the shopping center. But it makes sense. This suite has the perfect infrastructure for the new business, not to mention gorgeous harbor views. It’s the end of Top This Chocolate in Ventura Harbor. I have no regrets! I feel a tremendous amount a relief. I've known that I needed to be moving on and now I have to. This store just doesn’t make enough money to make sense. The fact that I haven’t figured out where the next chapter of Top This Chocolate will begin gives me the perfect opportunity to take a much needed break. I’m going to call it my MID-LIFE BREAK. I’m taking the summer off in this lovely beach town and will return to building my chocolate empire in the fall.
THANK YOU SO MUCH VENTURA! I’ve loved it here. I’m so grateful for the opportunity to launch at retail in this paradise town and for the supportive customers who gave me five years of consistent profitability. But the paradise tax is too steep to allow my concept to live up to its full potential. I’m hoping to have an easier time where rents, insurance and wages don’t take such a heavy toll on the bottom line. For example, when I opened in 2019, minimum wage was $11 per hour and now it’s $16.50. Chocolate prices increased 35% and my insurance policy doubled. Meanwhile Ventura County has been experiencing economic stagnation and is losing population instead of growing. So, you might say Ventura has been a beautiful place to stagnate 🤣. Now that the concept has been incubated and proven, it’s time for me to stop coasting and focus on real growth. Though it wasn’t my decision to close, I believe that the termination of my lease is a blessing in disguise.
PLEASE HIRE MY CHOCOLOGISTS!
If you’ve shopped in the store, you know my team has exceptional customer service. If you or someone you know is hiring, please help my nine excellent worker bees find new employment. Email me at Info@TopThisChocolate.com with opportunities or to get a referral. Feel free to email me any comments about this blog post as well.
If you’re not on the email list, please sign up for choco-updates here. I’ll be sending out info on the final in-store sale. Scroll to the bottom for a coupon opportunity. If you're local, I would love it if you'd stop in and say goodbye. I’ll also be sending out emails both when the website is back up for online ordering (after my mid-life break) and when I have a new retail store location. I hope we'll meet again. Don't know where. Don't know when.
Please support the new Boba shop that moves into my space as it isn’t an easy shopping center. For those who aren’t familiar, Boba tea (also called bubble tea) is a Taiwanese beverage with tea, milk, syrup, ice, and tapioca balls 😋.
With So Much Gratitude,
Shana Elson, Chief Executive Chocolatier
SCOOP UP YOUR SWEET STASH BEFORE WE DASH:
Last Day for Online Orders: Thursday May 8th
Last Day for Customization in Store: Sunday, May 11th (Mother’s Day)
Last Day Store Will be Open: Monday, May 12th
FILL OUT OUR CHOCOHOLIC SURVEY AND GET 20% OFF!