City: Kansas City, MO

Category: Shopping

Telephone: (816) 561-3440

Address: 5018 Main St.

Description: When Master Confiseur Andre Bollier and his wife, Elsbeth, came here from Switzerland in 1955 to set up a candy shop, few residents had ever tasted premium chocolates; it would be decades before “Godiva” meant anything but a lady with a horse. So the Bolliers served lunches at their tea room while they began educating the Midwest palate. Son Marcel and his wife, Connie, joined the company in 1974, and in 2001 their son René and his wife, Nancy, came on board. All the chocolates, from truffles to cream- and caramel-filled assortments, are handmade and meltingly delicious. The shop’s specialties are treats tied to the seasons, such as hand-painted, edible chocolate Easter eggs; Valentine hearts filled with truffles; and chocolate wine bottles packed with chocolate-covered almonds that are perfect for any celebration. Replace the Andre’s label with your own and the glossy brown bottles make extraordinary wedding and anniversary gifts. Chocoholic Johnson Countians were thrilled when the Bollier family opened a second location in Hawthorne Plaza.