Mountain Chocolate, the candy store that tried to succeed where Nancy’s Candies had failed in a front-and-center spot at the Village Green at 201 East Main Street in Floyd, had closed it doors.
The sign in the window says: “We are sorry but the candy store has closed. Thank you to everyone who shopped our store.”
Word is that Floyd businessman David Larsen will move his business storefront and personal computer museum from its spot on the right side of the the Village Green to the large space occupied by Mountain Chocolate.
The closing of Mountain Chocolate leaves Time Travelers as the only retail operation in the Village Green, which opened with fanfare as a mixed-use retail and office center in 2007.
Anchor tenants included Nancy’s Candies, a Citizens Telephone service center and phone store, a book store, a photography studio, an antique shop, a timber frame company and Blue Ridge Muse. All are gone. Some closed, others moved.
Avellar Investments, another anchor tenant, is now Stone-Houston Investments.
Other tenants now include the Chamber of Commerce, a real estate company and a dentist.
1 thought on “Mountain Chocolate closes its doors at Village Green”
Doug, though this blog post is old news, I thought i would take a moment to reflect a little on the Village Green Project. It is now over 9 years since a group of Floyd citizens stepped up to the plate and plunked down a half million bucks to buy the old Farmer’s Foods property. You will no doubt remember the year prior to that purchase because there was a cable across the entrance with no-trespassing signs and weeds growing up in the parking lot and poison ivy growing up the sides of what is now the VG building. Everyone thought a CVS or McDonald’s would eventually buy it.
Much has happened since then and as you point out many businesses have come and gone, perhaps none more regrettable than your own Blue Ridge Muse media office on the corner. But i think it timely to recognize the value of this project to the community for a couple of reasons. One is because of the unusual nature of having a group of 14 families make a collective investment in the Town of Floyd. And secondly, because this investment was an important catalyst for the million dollar Community Development Block Grant awarded to the town soon after that resulted in an award of Excellence from the Virginia Main Street Program. Many of the buildings in town today underwent facelifts because of that program, sidewalks were built, street lights installed and the parking lot constructed. The Village Green also was the tipping point that lead to the restoration of the Floyd Country Store, the barbershop, the Station and the Farmers Market, and indirectly helped lead to the purchase of the property that is now the Town Park.
So as we lament the loss of the Candy Store, I think it important also to remember the value of the action taken by the group that developed the Village Green. It has not been easy or profitable for them because small town multi-use facilities are generally hard to keep rented under the best of circumstances and they are not the investment of choice in the real estate business. But in this case, the owners weren’t looking for a real-estate project, they were looking for a community development project. And on the basis, the Village Green has been a huge success. So thanks to all those businesses that have participated over the years and thanks to the folks that made it happen. Floyd wouldn’t be the same without them.
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