CLEVELAND — Emily Bean prepped for Valentine’s Day for a while.
What You Need To Know
- Valentine’s Day is February 14
- Candy and chocolate shops are feeling the impact of inflation
- Mitchell’s Fine Chocolates in Cleveland is buying products in bulk to save money
“We sort of recoup after Christmas to do a good, deep clean, re-inventory, and then start immediately stocking up again for Valentine’s Day,” Bean said.
Bean co-owns Mitchell’s Fine Chocolates on Lee Road in Cleveland with her husband, Jason. She said she’s noticed a rise in costs for the ingredients they use to make their European-style confections.
“There has easily been a 10-20% increase across the board for a lot of products,” Bean said. “It feels like every other day, I’m getting an email from some of my suppliers saying, ‘We’re going to have to increase the cost on this one product that you get,’ and I just hope that it’s usually like in the 10% range as opposed to the 20% range.”
It’s a bitter reality that forced the business to find unique ways to save, like buying in bulk.
“For instance, I have those apricots that you saw. They are extremely shelf stable. They have about an 18-month shelf life,” she said. “I bought probably 10 months’ worth and then the entire crop sold out, so I can’t get any. What I have is what I have until about June, when they literally grow more apricots.”
But, supply chain issues didn’t stop them from serving up a little sweetness on Valentine’s Day.
Mitchell’s has been helping locals celebrate their love since Chris Mitchell, an immigrant from Greece, opened the shop in 1939.
“Then his son, Bill, took over in the 70s and 80s and then he had no other family here,” Bean said. “All the rest of his family was in Greece. So, him and my husband’s family go back a few generations from the same island in Greece, and they knew each other from the Greek Orthodox church.”
Although Bean and her husband aren’t directly related to the original owners, she said they still try maintain the traditions that the shop was founded on to keep their customers coming through the door for candy.
“It’s really about continuity,” Bean said. “You know, one of the most touching things that I love is when these older guys come in and they’re like, ‘I’ve been buying these apricots and orange peels for my wife every Valentine’s Day since we’ve been married,’ and that’s 40-50 years.”
