31/05/2018
The Chocolate Gallery to close after 38 years
By MITCHELL WHITE, NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
May 29, 2018 5:21 AM
After 38 years in business, the owners of The Chocolate Gallery in Goleta have decided to call it quits.
Co-owners Karen Kegg and Tim Johnson announced earlier this month they will not be renewing their lease on the Calle Real Center store location.
"There are no future plans and it has been a fantastic ride but the time is right for a change," the owners said on their website. "We are still going strong, taking 'stock-up- now' orders to be picked up before it's too late to get your hands on this most fantastic homemade chocolates."
The last hours will be 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. June 16.
Karen Kegg and Tim Johnson will hold their last day of business on June 16.
The closure announcement came a few days before Mother's Day, leaving them swarmed with folks securing their chocolate fix before it was too late.
Despite speculation of business woes or increased rent, Mr. Johnson and Ms. Kegg said closing the store has been a possibility for the last few years.
"This was just a convenient time to make a decision, new lease time," Ms. Kegg said, adding that they will not be selling the business and are liquidating fixtures and equipment.
"Maybe we'll be home for 20 minutes and say 'What were we thinking, let's go do something' or it may be two months of a year. We don't know what we're going to do, but the good news is that we don't have to make any decisions.
"It's not going to be a vacation to Tahiti or something," Ms. Kegg said with a laugh. "We're going out a winner," Mr. Johnson said.�Ms. Kegg admitted it has been tough deciding to let the business go, but they wouldrather go out on their own terms than stick around and train someone else to take over.
The couple opened their first store in The Granada building in downtown Santa Barbara in 1980 and opened the Calle Real location in 1982. Ms. Kegg came with experience, her father having operated a chocolate shop in Houston, Texas.
The shop specializes in making artful milk and dark chocolate designs using various molds. Among them are romance, music and arts, and professions. They had various cap-and-gown theme chocolates on display over the weekend, as they are in the midst of graduation season — or as they call it, "Thank You season."
After announcing the closure on their page, they said they received tons of support from customers. One woman told them it wasn't fair they weren't including a referral to a mental health expert after the announcement.
"It's very flattering," Ms. Kegg said. "They give me grief about it but it takes only a sentence or two before they say 'Good for you, you guys have worked hard ... they all get it."
They are best known for the Texas Crunch, which began as scraps from Ms. Kegg's father's English toffee and is now one of their biggest sellers.
"We've sent two kids to college on that piece of candy," Mr. Johnson said.
Other notable selections are their Chocolate Explosion, truffles and the English toffee.
Mr. Johnson, who has been in real estate for the last 15 years, has been handing out $5 gift cards to the gallery over the years and speculates there could be hundreds, if not thousands, out there that people may have forgotten about.
Ms. Kegg is urging people to check their pockets and drawers and make sure they use the vouchers before it's too late.
As the oldest original shop owners in the shopping center, the couple recently learned they are selling their sweets have been consumed by four generations for one family.
One of the regulars first started getting chocolate at the gallery when her grandpa would call from out of state. That woman just had her first grandchild about two months ago, Ms. Kegg said.
Despite the closure, Ms. Kegg has already promised to continue awarding candy letters to the Goleta Public Library, something they have done for a number of years.
What lies ahead remains unclear, but as Ms. Kegg said, "better to catch the crest of the wave than to be inundated with some crisis."
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