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After nearly 80 years, Mile End chocolatier Chocolats Andrée is set to close before the year is out.
An announcement from owner Stéphanie Saint-Denis on Chocolats Andrée’s website and via a press release says that the Parc Avenue establishment will shut its doors for good on December 31. It cites the building’s recent sale as a reason, which Saint-Denis used to own. Gazette critic Lesley Chesterman also broke the news via Twitter.
More devastating news this morning. Just got a call from Stéphanie Saint-Denis of Les Chocolats Andrée telling me that the shop, open since 1941!, will be closing Dec. 31st for good. All that history and tradition... gone. This one hurts.
— Lesley Chesterman (@lesleychestrman) December 13, 2018
Stéphanie Saint-Denis of Les Chocolats Andrée told me that the reps always told her to stop making things like orange zests and buy them ready-made. She told me she would never compromise like that. Huge respect for her respect for tradition.
— Lesley Chesterman (@lesleychestrman) December 13, 2018
There’s one possible caveat: the site notes that Saint-Denis is open to selling the company’s assets for someone else to keep things running.
It opened in 1940 under sisters Madeleine Daigneault and Juliette Farand, and women from the family have remained at the helm for all 78 years: Saint-Denis is Daigneault’s granddaughter.
The Mile End institution has stuck more to traditional chocolates over its decades of tempering, filling and dipping, instead of veering into the experimentation of some younger generation chocolatiers — think caramels and creams. It still uses plenty of equipment dating back to the shop’s opening, too.
There’s still time to visit: Andrée is open every day through to December 31, except December 25, 26, and 30.
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