A sweet staple at Lake Anne Plaza is set to close its doors later this month.
Chesapeake Chocolates announced last Tuesday (Sept. 3) that it will shutter at the end of September after 17 years in Reston at 11426 Washington Plaza West.
“It’s been a long run, with lots of breaking chocolate, tasting wine, printing postage and making friends,” owner Doris Tyler wrote on the company’s website.
Tyler told FFXnow that she is closing the store for personal reasons and doesn’t plan to relocate. Chesapeake Chocolates plans to continue making chocolate through this week and begin liquidating furnishings in mid-September.
The Bob Simon Lake Anne Contract Postal Unit that began offering mailing and other postal services inside the store in 2016 will operate through Sept. 21.
“The next few weeks will be challenging, but your support and that of the many customers who have become friends will help,” Tyler wrote. “Many thanks to the very special people who have helped make Chesapeake Chocolates a place of good smells, tastes and memories.”
Doris and her sister-in-law Bernadette founded the business in 1998 after training with chocolatiers in Massachusetts.
After selling chocolates at fairs, festivals and online, Bernadette handed the business over to Doris, who started working with Lake Anne Florist when it relocated to Lake Anne Plaza in 2007. The shared storefront sold chocolate, flowers and wine.
When the owner of Lake Anne Florist retired in 2015, Doris remodeled the shop and renamed it Chesapeake Chocolates, Wine, Gifts and More.
According to Tyler, the property owner is currently looking for someone to lease the property. In her blog post, she expressed hope that the new tenant will “continue to offer local art and a Postal Unit to the community.”
