Chocolatier Godiva is closing all of its stories in North America, including seven locations around the Bay Area.
The mass closure affects 128 stores in the United States and Canada, although its outposts in Europe, the Middle East and China remain open. The closings will be completed in March, as stores are expected to remain open during the lucrative Valentine’s Day season.
The news comes less than two years after Godiva’s planned expansion of 2,000 cafes around the world by 2025. Americans will not be short of Godiva chocolates, however. The products will continue to be sold online, in supermarkets and other retailers that sell their products.
In a statement, Godiva said that purchases in person “declined as a result of the pandemic”, which accelerated “accelerating changes in consumers’ buying behavior”. Many of its retail locations were located inside shopping malls.
The Bay Area closure locations are:
Livermore: San Francisco Premium Outlets
Palo Alto: Stanford Shopping Center
Pleasanton: Stoneridge Mall
San Francisco: Stonestown Galleria
San Francisco: San Francisco Center
Santa Clara: Westfield Valley Fair Mall
Walnut Creek: Broadway Plaza
The company, founded in Belgium in the 1920s, was acquired by the Turkish company Yıldız Holding in 2007. Godiva is headquartered in New York City, with its two plants in Brussels and Reading, Penn.