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Wilbur Chocolate opens in new Lititz location
Lenay Ruhl//October 7, 2016
Although the notorious Wilbur sign on the new building is less faded than the original, and the brick façade of the space is new, the history and chocolate remain the same inside.
The new Wilbur store and museum has a larger, more open layout than the original location. But like the old location, it has a kitchen where candies are made. The kitchen is bigger and has new equipment.
Minneapolis-based Cargill, which owns the store and the factory, will maintain about the same number of employees in the store – 20 part-time and full-time staff, according to Cargill spokesperson Amy Weik.
Design and renovation of the new store and museum was undertaken by local businesses. They felt it was important to bring the “essence of what that factory is” to the new space, said Scott Shonk, a partner at Lititz-based Beers and Hoffman Architecture, which handled the design.
Lititz-based Pusey & Raffensperger Builders Inc. was the general contractor. Construction started in August and is now complete.
In the planning stages, Shonk said, discussion centered on the history of the chocolate factory, and the challenge of “how to bring that feeling across the street.”
Wilbur Chocolate was made in the Lititz factory for 113 years, but the factory closed in January of this year and more than 100 jobs were eliminated.
The factory is currently for sale, and although rumors are circulating as to what it will become, Cargill has remained mum on potential buyers.
Take a look inside the new Wilbur Chocolate store and museum in the video below.
Wilbur Chocolate lives on in Lititz from Central Penn Business Journal on Vimeo.
