Family-Owned Chocolate Shop Celebrates 6 Years In Long Valley

LONG VALLEY, NJ — A family-owned chocolate shop well known for its wide variety and homemade quality recently celebrated six years in Long Valley.

The Chocolate Shoppe, one of the area's locally and family-owned chocolatiers and candy makers, celebrated their anniversary on Nov. 14, the family announced on social media.

Darleen and Mike Wizorek have owned the Chocolate Shoppe, a popular local candy store located at 62 E Mill Road, since 2006.

Emily Oldmixon, Darleen and Mike's daughter said her mother started working for Phyllis Blake at The Chocolate Shoppe when it was in Warren County’s Washington in 2005, buying the business one year later.

The family, originally from Florham Park but having moved to Long Valley in 1983, with Mike helping with aspects of the business, opened a second store in Mendham in 2009.

After a fire tore through the Mendham location in 2016, the family decided it made sense to relocate The Chocolate Shoppe to Long Valley. Oldmixon and her siblings have since all graduated from West Morris Central and went on to earn degrees in animal science, criminology, marketing, and accounting from various New Jersey colleges.

Oldmixon said that today, everyone in the family contributes to the business in some way, with her, her mother, and her sister Jes all working full-time.

The Chocolate Shoppe differs from other candy and chocolate shops in that they make about 80 percent of their showcase candy in-house and hand mold all of their molds on-site, Oldmixon previously told Patch.

"We don’t use much in the way of automated equipment; this allows us to maintain the old-fashioned home-made, hand-dipped chocolate quality," Oldmixon said.

The Chocolate Shoppe is known for its caramels, favors of all shapes and sizes for any occasion and its hot chocolate bombs, among its many treats.

To celebrate Thanksgiving, the Chocolate Shoppe is having its "Golden Ticket" event, where they put "golden tickets" in some of its small cornucopias.

"Come on in, purchase however many you would like, go home, break it open and see if you are a lucky winner of one of the great prizes," shop employees said.

They ask customers to stay tuned to their social media, with their Facebook here and Instagram here.

The Chocolate Shoppe is located at 62 East Mill Road in Long Valley and is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursdays, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays. Visit them online at www.ChocolateNJ.com or call 908-867-2000.