Rich Chocolates & Candies!

Hello everyone,

I thought I would take a moment to let you all know about Chicago newest chocolate shop. Rich Chocolates & Candies opened this past October. We are a part of Sweet Collective (we had a holiday open house back in December which we posted here).

Rich Chocolates & Candies is a unique shop specializing in handmade artisinal chocolates with flavors ranging from the familiar to the exotic. Our truffles are all hand-rolled, and everything is made with the finest ingredients- no yucky preservatives or artificial flavors. The insipirations for our flavors range from childhood favorites and retro desserts (pecan pie, mint chocolate chip) to the city around us (The Windy City Collection- flavors based on different Chicago neighborhoods).

Please forgive me if I am overstepping my bounds here- I'm very excited to be a part of the Chicago food community and want to spread the word! check out our website www.richchocolates.com and stop on by!

Lauren

Are you in Lincoln Square? I'll be in the 'hood Monday, so I might stop by.

Pie Lady wrote:Are you in Lincoln Square?

More like Budlong Woods.

stevez wrote:

Pie Lady wrote:Are you in Lincoln Square?

More like Budlong Woods.

Oh well. It's on the way. Got to support the local merchants or else the terrorists win. Chocolate, here I come!

Hello Lauren,

Do you keep regular hours that are available for retail? My impression about Sweet Collective was that there were minimal retail hours and the focus for the collective was not retail-oriented.

Can you expand on your hours and normal retail inventory a bit?

Best,
Michael

Hi everyone,

Sorry for the delay in my reply- I was out of town due to a family emergency.

Sweet Collective's hours are currently Wed-Saturday, 11am -6pm. We are all also availble by appointment on the other days- for pick-ups and/or tastings. We plan on expanding our hours this summer to include Sundays, and we hope to be included in the Lincoln Square farmer's market (fingers crossed!).

In terms of inventory- Rich Chocolates & Candies always has a full inventory (well, occasionally we do run out of something). Right now I am featuring 2 chocolate collections- The Whimsy Collection and The Windy City Collection. Each collection has around 7 or 8 different flavors. We also have toffees, caramel corn, and pate de fruit- all of which is available in the store. Rich is definitely retail-oriented, and I hope to start shipping this fall, in time for the '08 holiday season.

As for the other member of Sweet Collective, Ruth and Phil's Gourmet Ice Cream typically stocks 9-12 different flavors of ice ceam and sorbet, all made on the premises. Certain flavors are only available in pints, but we usually have some for samples. Other flavors are typically available in pints, scoops, or ice cream sandwiches. The Sugar Syndicate is mostly custom, special-order cakes, but always offers a small selection of mini pastries in the shop.

I hope this answered your questions!

lauren

Anyone know if Sweet Collective is still open for retail customers? I've been by the last couple of weekends and the door locked and shutters were covering the windows.

Jonah

We are definitely still open- we were closed last weekend for the holiday. We're back to our regular hours:

Wed-Sat: 11-7
Sun: 12-4

We'll also have special holiday hours for Christmas and New Years:
Christmas Eve - Dec. 24 - 11am - 2pm
Closed Christmas Dec. 25 and Dec. 26

Re - Open Sat. Dec. 27 and Sun. Dec. 28 with regular hours
Open Mon. - Tues. Dec. 29 - 30 - 11am - 7pm
New Year's Eve - Dec. 31 - 11am - 2pm

and then we will be closed for the first 2 weeks in January for some much-needed rest!

If you ever have any questions about the hours- give us a call 773-293-0888. We always post the hours on the door, too.